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Page 5. 


The Southern Cousin. 







¥he Southern Cousin 


ANNIE WESTON WHITNEY 


PHILADELPHIA 

American Baptist Publication Society 

1420 CHESTNUT STREET 


























































































































































































































































THE SOUTHERN COUSIN 


BY 

ANNIE WESTON WHITNEY. 

H 


** There is a relation between the hours of our life and the centuries of time/’ 


\ MAY 9 ) 

PHILADELPHIA : 

AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

1420 Chestnut Street. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, by the 
AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


n- ioic/^ 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Brother and Sister, 5 

II. Retrospect, 15 

III. Aunt Han, 23 

IY. A Visit to Mammy Tot, 32 

Y. The Departure, 39 

YI. Meeting New Relations, 48 

VII. Contrast, 56 

VIII. John Would Not Wish It, 66 

IX. “The Old Gentleman is a Trump,” ... 76 

X. A Letter to Aunt Han, 84 

XI. An Unexpected Visitor, 87 

XII. A Loss of Temper, 95 

XIII. Small Beginnings, 102 

XIV. Centennial Ghosts, 113 

XV. Pleasure or Duty? 122 

XVI. My Great-grandmother, 135 

XVII. A New, Strange Thought, 148 

XVIII. A Struggle, 155 

XIX. The Unselfish Decision, 162 

XX. John’s Visit, 167 


3 


4 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XXL The Shadow of Death, 177 

XXII. A Long Night, 183 

XXIII. Trying for Rest, 194 

XXIV. A Visit from Mrs. Duncan, 201 

XXV. Surprises, 207 

XXVI. Sharing with Others, 215 

XXVII. A Call for Mammy Tot, 225 

XXVIII. Kind Words, 234 

XXIX. An Up and Down Christian, 239 

XXX. An Affecting Meeting, 241 

XXXI. A Very Happy Reunion, 250 

XXXII. Partings, 259 

XXXIII. “ Only Me!" 265 

XXXIV. The Plood, 270 

XXXV. A Happy Issue, 277 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE BROTHER AND SISTER. 

O N the outskirts of a busy, thriving town in North 
Carolina, and at the foot of a somewhat pretentious 
hill, stood a tenantless old stone mill. On the afternoon 
on which my story opens, this hill was brilliant with 
autumn foliage, which would, at another time, have 
attracted the attention of a girl sitting on the door sill of 
the mill. Now she was looking expectantly down the 
road, a pleased smile occasionally lighting up her face, a 
face by no means beautiful, but with a something some- 
where — it was difficult to determine at first just where — 
that convinced one that there was character back of it, 
and that the owner was a girl to be trusted. One could 
see, too, that it was a face ever changing and full ot 
lights and shades, a face interesting to watch, and yet 
without one beautiful feature. There are faces that 
reflect the soul beyond them more strikingly than others. 
Helen Carter’s was one of these. 

As she sat now she had sat many times before ; but in 
the last three or four years those times had seemed to 

5 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


become only memories of the past, not as before, realities 
of the present. Just now it was a reality, however, and 
evidently a pleasant one ; for a glad, happy look came 
into her face as a man’s form approached. 

“ Why, Nell dear, you here ? This seems like old 
times,” he said cheerily, as she suddenly came within 
the range of his vision. 

“ That’s just what I wanted,” was the reply, as a bright 
face looked up into his. “ I ran off this afternoon on pur- 
pose to have one of the old talks with you, John dear. 
I felt that I could not go away without it, though it will 
have to be a very little one this time. Let us take our 
old seat inside, and try to forget that it has been so long 
since we were here together.” 

They entered the mill and seated themselves on an old 
bench in front of an opening, which had once served the 
purpose of a window, and through which they could see 
the stream of water that had formerly kept the machinery 
of the mill in motion. 

“ Oh, John,” said his companion, laughing, “ do you 
remember the funny sketch of the mill I made one day 
when I was sitting on that big rock over there ? I don’t 
know what ever became of it.” 

“ Don’t you ? ” laughed her companion. “ I think I 
do.” 

“You don’t mean that you have it?” asked Helen, in 
some surprise. 

“ Yes, dear, and I would not part with it for a good 
deal, either.” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


7 


“ You foolish, foolish John,” she said, giving one of 
his arras a little squeeze. “ You know it wasn’t worth 
keeping.” 

“ There is evidently a difference of opinion on that 
point, my dear, but it brings me to a subject I have 
wanted to mention. I have made arrangements for you 
to take lessons in drawing while you are awav, Nell. 
I ” 

Helen sprang up and put a hand over his mouth 
before he could say more, saying herself : 

“ Stop, stop ; not another word, John dear.” 

“ But I have not finished, little sister,” he said, gently 
removing her hand. 

“Then don’t finish, please. You have no right to 
tempt me. Oh, John, dear John,” she said, in a distressed 
tone, “you know that you ought not to spend money on 
me in that way, and that I have no right to allow it, with 
everything else you have to do. It would be wrong in 
me to take it. Mother and the children need 
everything ” 

“ Conscientious little woman,” he said, tenderly putting 
his arm about her and drawing her toward him. “I have 
no intention of taking anything from the mother and 
children for this. The money does not come from the 
farm, dear ; so you need not worry on that score.” 

“ Then where is it to come from, John dear ? ” 

“In the first place, it will not take a fortune, as you 
seem to think. New York offers fine advantages of that 
kind for a comparatively small sum.” 


8 


THE SOUTHEEN COUSIN. 


“ But, John dear, if it cost only one dollar, it would be 
too much. You are going to make some great sacrifice 
to give me a pleasure. I know you are.” 

“ No, no, little woman, there is no sacrifice anywhere, 
only a great pleasure in the thought that I am able to do 
this for you. I want you to feel that it is, Nell, and that 
it makes me as happy as I hope it will you.” 

“But, John ” she began, and then looking up, 

quickly changed her tone, and asked, anxiously, “ Is that 
why you have been working so hard at night, lately ? ” 

“ Suppose it is, dear ? Have I not been doing work 
I love? I had an opportunity of doing some draughting, 
and you know how glad I am to have the practice.” 

“ Yes, John, and I know too, that if father had lived, 
you would be doing that now instead of what you are. 
That is all the stronger reason for my not touching the 
money. You must use it on your own dear self ; for I 
will not have it.” 

“ Then I must tell you what has been on my mind for 
some time, little sister. It may hurt you at first, but 
hear me out, and then I think we will understand and 
look at this matter in the same light.” He drew her 
closer as he spoke, and lifted her face so that he could 
look into it. “ You know, Nell, that so long as I live, 
there will be a home for you, if my health is spared ; but 
should I be taken away ” — he felt her shiver, and saw 
her bite her lip, and try to keep back the tears — “ there 
would not be enough to support all. Since father died, 
it has been a great source of trouble to me ; but when 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


9 


this invitation came from uncle, I seemed suddenly to 
see light. With the natural talent you have for sketch- 
ing, there is no reason why, with a little teaching, you 
should not be able to make it of use some time, if 
necessary. You know, dear, I believe that all our talents 
are given us for a purpose, and should be carefully 
improved.’’ 

“ How about your own, John ? ” she said, soberly. “ It 
does not seem right for me to take money for mine, when 
vou ” 

“ The Lord has his own reasons for not letting me use 
mine. He may open the way for it just as unexpectedly 
as he has for you.” 

Helen Carter was a girl who reasoned some things out 
in her own mind very quickly ; and in this instance, the 
thought came to her that, by cultivating her talent now, 
she might even be able to help John, by doing something 
for herself. Releasing herself from his embrace, she 
stood before him, but with half-averted face, as she said : 

“ I will take the money, John. I am glad you told me 
this.” 

It was very evident there were tears somewhere near ; 
and John Carter drew her again to his side, but without 
requiring her to look up, said : 

“There is something back in that little heart and 
brain, of which I have not yet been told. What is it ? ” 

A weary little sob, followed by a fit of crying, was his 
only answer for a time. Then Helen looked up through 
her tears, and said, penitently : 


10 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ I am so sorry.” 

“ I am not,” said her brother, tenderly. “ I would 
rather you would cry here than anywhere else. Now for 
it. ” And he smiled as he added, “ You know there is no 
getting out of it now.” 

“ It was only a homesick feeling. I have had it before; 
for I know I cannot be perfectly happy anywhere away 
from you. It seems so selfish in me even to want to go ; 
and you will miss me ? ” 

“ Miss my little sunbeam ? ” he said, kissing her very 
lovingly. “ Who could help that who has ever known 
her ? But I will be happy in the thought that she is 
shining for some one else, and warming up other hearts as 
she has warmed mine. That, of itself, will be a pleasure 
to me ; and then there is so much to which to look 
forward in the homecoming. In the meantime, there 
will be the letters, like dainty little fairies, always bring- 
ing precious messages. Just think of that ! ” 

She half smiled, and then shook her head, as she 
said: 

“ I have wished, more than once, that uncle had not 
thought about sending for me.” 

“ Why, dear?” 

“ Because I am afraid of myself, John.” 

“ What do you mean, Nell? ” 

“ I hardly know exactly, except You remember, 

John, the day our own mother died, and you took me in 
your arms and talked to me so beautifully. Somehow it 
has seemed ever since as though you were the good part 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


11 


of me, and without you I would be bad and wicked. I 
know that the only time you have been away from me, the 
time you went to see about that position, I was awful. 
I am ashamed of it every time I think of it now ; but I 
was horrid and cross to mother and the children, and I 
am afraid you would have been grieved, had you known. 
I never could have acted so if you had been at home ; 
and don’t you see how it might be when I go away from 
you ? W hen you are here, I would not do anything for 
the world that would grieve you. Indeed, John, the 
thought of you has kept me from doing more than one 
thing for which I should have been sorry.” 

He loosened his hold of her, and moving a little to one 
side, and looking very earnestly in her face, said, soberly : 

“ Do you care more for my love than for God’s ? ” 

She did not raise her eyes, and he continued : “ If that 
is so, I can understand one reason why he has put this 
opportunity in your way for leaving me for a while ; but, 
Nell dear, I think you have only exaggerated all this in 
your mind. I have no fears, dear, but that you will be 
the same sweet, lovely girl everywhere, always willing 
to think and act for others. It strikes me I have more 
faith in my little sister than she has in herself.” 

“I wish I were fyalf as good as you, John,” she said, 
nestling close to him again. “ I don’t suppose there will 
be any excuse for not being good in New York. You 
see it is so different from home ; for they have lots of 
money, and plenty of servants, and uncle said I would 
have nothing to do but have a good time.” 


12 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ We never know, dear, what is before us. The Lord 
often gives us very unexpected work ; and not always of 
the kind we would prefer. You must remember, too, 
that there is always work to be done for him, everywhere ; 
but I am sure my little sister will not shrink from what 
may be given her to do in the future, any more than she 
has done in the past. And she will do it for him who 
has done so much for her, and not simply to please her 
brother.” 

“ Thank you, John,” she said, looking up through her 
tears. “ It does me good to have you say that ; but you 
always do me good. I wish we could stay longer, but it 
is getting dark, and I must hurry home ; for I am going 
to make you the very best tea-cake you ever ate for your 
supper to-night.” 

“Can’t go home till the sun comes out, even if we have 
to do without the tea-cake. I’m not going to take any 
clouds home with me. How did you manage to leave, 
this afternoon, busy little housekeeper ? ” 

“ Played truant ! And I enjoyed it, too,” she said, 
laughing. “ You see, I made up my mind early this 
morning that I would, if possible, come to meet you ; for 
I knew where you were going, so I just made things fly. 
And I finished everything there was to do to-day, except 
a basketful of darning. Mother was lying down, and the 
children were where they could not trouble her ; so I just 
shut my eyes to the stockings, and ran away, knowing I 
could do most of them to-night.” 

“ And burn the midnight oil? I object to that, dear ; 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


13 


for I want you to take away some real Southern roses on 
your cheeks. Never mind about tbe stockings. Annie 
Lyon is going to do all the darning and mending while 
you are away.” 

“ Why, John dear, you ought not to do that.” 

“ It is her own proposition ; and she thinks I am doing 
her a great favor by allowing it. When her brother 
was sick, you remember, and could only work part of a 
day at a time, I let one of my men take his place every 
day when he had to leave, so that he could keep his 
place and get full pay. Annie has never forgotten it ; 
and since she heard you were going away has begged so 
hard to be allowed to do some of the work you have 
been in the habit of doing, that I have given my consent, 
so far as to tell her to come one afternoon in each week. 
She told me this morning she was coming over for all 
day to-morrow to help you ; for she knew there would 
be many little things to do, and she thought you might 
want to go out a little before you leave.” 

“ That is very thoughtful and kind in Annie,” said 
Helen. 

“ So you see, you need not worry about the stockings, 
nor burn the midnight oil over them. Are you nearly 
ready to go, dear ? ” 

“Yes, John ; and I have something pretty to show you 
then. My new suit came home to-day. It is lovely, and 
is just your taste. I am sure you will like it.” 

“ How do you know anything about my taste, young 
lady ? ” he asked, laughing. 


14 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“Never mind how I know. Just see if I have not 
studied it. You can’t imagine how rich I feel with two 
new dresses at once ; especially when I did not intend to 
have even one this winter. I think I would like to show 
the suit to Aunt Han, if she would not think me vain.” 

“ We’ll go then together, to-morrow afternoon ; and you 
shall wear it. She may not say much ; but I am sure, in 
her heart, she will be glad to see you prettily dressed. Is 
there any other place you would like to go to before you 
start on your travels ? ” 

“ Yes, I would like one day to go out to see Mammy 
Tot.” 


CHAPTER II. 


RETROSPECT. 

I T was a dainty little figure with a very bright face 
that stood in the doorway, the next afternoon, as 
John Carter came through the gate. For an instant, he 
thought, with a pang, of what home would be without 
the constant presence of the sister who had brightened 
it ever since she had entered it ; but he resolutely put 
aside all selfish feelings, and as he took off his hat and 
bowed very low, he thought there never could have been 
a sweeter, lovelier creature than she upon whom he then 
looked. 

It was one of the few typical Southern homes allowed 
to remain as a landmark in that part of the country ; 
for the fortunes of war had necessitated much changing 
about in the ownership of property. Some old homes 
had been entirely destroyed, others had been bodily re- 
moved from the land on which they had been built, while 
others still had received additions, or had been otherwise 
so changed that they 1 were not recognizable as the same 
buildings they had been when held by their former 
owners. Mr. Carter, Helen’s father, had been able to 
keep the place which had been the home of his father 
and grandfather before him in such a condition that 
they would still have recognized it, though they might 

15 


16 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


have thought its position had been changed ; for a busy 
town was fast creeping up to it, ready to make it a part 
of itself. It was still outside, however ; and the grand 
old oaks on the lawn, some of them bearing great 
masses of mistletoe, seemed like sentinels guarding the 
approach to the house. Helen had often sat on the bal- 
cony just outside of her room, and wondered over the 
tales the old trees might tell of those who had lived 
before her, under the shadow of their branches. Who, 
besides herself, had sat on that same balcony, and sought 
and found rest and comfort from the silent teachings of 
those monarchs of the forest? Or what gay, happy 
parties had sat on the long, wide veranda in front, 
whose roof was supported by giant pillars that still stood 
as monuments of past greatness; for the Carters had 
been wealthy, and had entertained most royally. Many 
a story of this had Helen heard from Mammy Tot, who 
had formerly been a slave in the family, and who had 
lived with them, from time to time since, nursing Helen 
herself when a baby. 

“ Dem’s de times wot’s worth talkin’ ’bout, honey,” 
she would say. “ De house niggers was kep’ a flyin’ den, 
when de news come dat de famley gwine hab mo’ com- 
pany dan common. Dey’s alius habin’ mo’ less. I 
minds de time when my boy, Shingles, he’s bigger dan 
me now, but he’s a mite uv a picaninny den, put on de 
fust white apron fur ter holp tote de dishes an’ sich ter 
de ladies an’ gemmans. Shingles, he’s thet pleased at de 
notion, dat he done clean furgot ’bout dat apun, an’ he 


THE SOUTHERN COUSTN. 


17 


went down ter de cuppin ter ’nounce what he gwine 
do ter de chillens wot’s down dar holpin’ ter tote de milk 
ter de house. Lor, honey, dat chile jes’ flung he sef 
ober de fence so suddent like, dat he done lit smack on 
de horns ob ole Sooky, an’ fore he knowed whar he am, he 
back on de yudder side agin quicker’n he come, an’ down 
en de ditch. Sakes alive ! honey, yer neb her did seen sich 
a apun. Ole missus, she all done up en silks and satins 
when she seen ’im, but she larf an’ tell me ter fix ’im up 
an’ git a clean apun. Den she done tole dat Shingles 
dat de nex’ time he’s a mind ter go ter de cuppin, she 
reckin’ ez how he better go wif he feet an’ not hed fust. 
Lor, honey, dat picaninny ain’t no hed ter do nuthin’ dat 
night, nohow. Fust time he’s sont inter de room wif 
some dishes an’ sich an’ seen all dem ladies an’ gemmans 
en dey fine does, he jes’ stood stock still an’ look till all 
de dishes done rattle down ter de flo’ an’ he cut an’ run.” 

This was one of the many stories Helen loved to hear 
when she was quite young; but as she grew older she 
asked more about “ dem ladies an’ gemmans en dey fine 
does ; ” and Mammy Tot would entertain her by the hour 
with stories of what had happened in her time. There 
were incidents of the war to tell, too, but with that, 
all accounts of merry making ceased; for the stern real- 
ities of life crowded too closely upon each other then. 
At its close, Helen’s father was owner of the old home, 
which he was fortunate enough to be able to keep, by 
selling off other property elsewhere. It was necessary, 
however, to practice strict economy for some time, but he 
B 


18 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


had a wife who cheerfully aided him, and did all in her 
power to make his home happy, and to prevent his 
missing many comforts and luxuries to which he had 
been accustomed. When Helen was old enough to un- 
derstand such things, however, her father was again 
prosperous, or much more so than he had been since the 
war, and her early childhood was a very happy one ; for 
father, mother, and brother made a great pet of her. 
But trouble came into her young life suddenly and unex- 
pectedly ; and when, with his strong arms about her, John 
had told her that their dear mother had gone where she 
would never suffer more, she had felt as though the world 
and all it contained had become enveloped in a cloud 
that would never leave it. It was a sad, homesick little 
girl who went about the house for a long time after that, 
but gradually, as she saw how her father and John, par- 
ticularly the latter, who treated her so lovingly and 
tenderly, would brighten up when she seemed happier 
than usual, she realized that she could do so much 
toward making home pleasant for them. At first, it was 
a great effort ; but soon it became a pleasure, as she found 
that in making others happy she was making herself so 
too. Her father, who was rather a quiet man, did not 
say much; but John not only showed by actions that 
he saw and appreciated what she did, but spoke and en- 
couraged her. In that way they were drawn very close 
together; and when, in course of time, their father 
brought home another wife, no one ever heard a word 
of objection from either of them. They had talked the 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


19 


matter over together, and they agreed to treat her as 
kindly as possible, and never let her feel that she was 
not welcome. 

“Father is showing no disrespect to our own mother,” 
John had said. “ He has been very, very lonely since 
she died, and we ought to be glad of his happiness now.” 

“ But, John,” said Helen, “ I can never call her mother. 
I know I can never do that.” 

“Yes, you can, dear, if father wishes it. It cannot 
possibly hurt our own dear mother, who, if she knew, 
would, I am sure, like us to do as father wishes.” 

The new mother proved to be much younger than 
their own had been, and brought with her one little girl; 
for she too, had been married before. She returned 
their greetings very pleasantly and hoped they would 
like her, as she meant to like them. Very bravely Helen 
accepted the change; but there were times when the 
thought of her own dear mother would make her very 
sad. It was then that John helped her, and they had 
their long talks in the old mill. Before others she was 
always bright and cheerful, and ever ready to lend a 
helping hand. For three years they were a very happy 
family, and then trouble came again ; but this time it was 
money troubles. Mr. Carter had lost so heavily that he 
was obliged to sell a large part of his home property in 
order to be able to live on the remaining portion of it ; 
and even then it was necessary to practice the strictest 
economies of every kind. 

Helen was to have been sent to boarding school, and 


20 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


John was to have gone where he could cultivate the 
talent of which he longed to make use. All thi3 was 
necessarily given up ; and John stayed on the farm and 
assisted his father there, so that between them they could 
keep a home for the family. 

Unfortunately, Mrs. Carter had been brought up in 
such absolute luxury that she did not know how to econo- 
mize herself, and the struggle was more than she felt 
equal to ; so that she did not object to anything Helen 
was willing to do to take the burden from her. Not 
understanding such things, she did not realize the weight 
of the burden she was allowing younger shoulders to bear ; 
and Helen, anxious to add nothing to her father's cares, 
did not let him see how much had fallen to her share. 
John knew more than any one and tried to help her in 
little ways ; but the time came when there were two more 
little ones to be fed, clothed and cared for, with a mother 
who required constant attention ; and he would have 
rebelled and gone to his father, had not Helen stopped 
him. 

“ No, no,” she said. “ Indeed, John, it is better not. 
Mother does not know how, or she would do things, and 
I am glad to do them.” 

John worried a good deal about it, but thought he 
saw a prospect of better things coming for them all ; and 
they were coming, and John was arranging once more to 
go away, when his father died. Then things had gone 
from bad to worse for a time — the failure of a large con- 
cern in which Mr. Carter had put money leaving his 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


21 


family with little besides the income they could get from 
the farm. Before his father died, John had promised to 
look after and care for “ mother and the children ” ; so 
he had worked hard to keep them all together on the 
farm, hoping that in a few years it might increase in 
value sufficiently to warrant his offering it for sale, in the 
hope of getting a good price for it. 

Since his father’s death, John had ever found “ the 
little sister,” as he called her, the sunshine of his life. 
He had never thought of her leaving him until a few 
weeks before, when their uncle in New York had written 
that a friend, on his way from a trip South, would stop 
in the town, and he thought it a good opportunity for 
Helen to come North and spend the winter. She would 
doubtless enjoy seeing a little more of the world than she 
had seen, and never having been in a large city, would 
find enough to interest her for several months. He 
offered to pay her traveling expenses, and see that she 
returned to her home under proper escort. John decided 
at once that she must go. He had known for some time 
that her duties were growing heavier, and had tried to 
devise some plan for making a complete change. Here 
was his opportunity, a^nd a chance for giving Helen an 
unexpected pleasure. She, at first, had said that she 
could not go ; but John had talked to her plainly, and 
had even persuaded her that it would be better for their 
mother if she were left to look after things herself a little 
more. Mrs. Carter herself urged Helen to go, remem- 
bering a week she had spent there when life seemed 


22 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


happier to her than it did now. She brightened up a 
good deal then, and told Helen of many of the things she 
had seen there. 

After it was fully decided that she was to go, Helen 
gave herself up to the delights of anticipation, though 
there were times when she looked very seriously into the 
matter. It was the pleasant, happy side she saw as John 
approached. 

“ Well,” she said, smiling, “ what do you think of it?” 

“ I think there will be nothing half so sweet and lovely 
in all New York,” he said, smiling back. 

“ Oh, you stupid John,” she said. “ That just shows 
that you have never been there. Where will this des- 
perate attempt at a pug be ? ” And she raised a gloved 
finger to her nose. 

“ I adore pugs,” was the reply. 

“Nonsense, John. Be sensible, and tell me if my 
taste does not accord with yours. Do you like my suit ? ” 

“ I cannot say how I would like it without the pug 
accompaniment,” was the reply. “ With it, it is a very 
charming whole.” 

“ Do you mean to spoil me, that you flatter me so, 
John, or are you only making fun of me ? Come, put on 
your best coat and let us go.” 


CHAPTER III. 


AUNT HAN. 

M ISS HANNAH ARMSTRONG was Helen’s great- 
aunt ; and she lived on the other side of the vil- 
lage, in a small house she had bought at the close of the 
war. Here she had lived alone ever since, save for the 
presence of old Cassy, a former slave, who had clung to 
her, and still acted the part of servant. “ Miss Hannah ” 
was pronounced by the neighbors “ sharp and crusty,” 
and “ a little queer.” It is true, she seldom said or did 
pleasant things ; but then there were those, and among 
them her great-niece and nephew, who insisted that 
beneath the crust there were a warm heart and many 
kind feelings. Even they, however, had to take much of it 
on faith ; and there had been a time when Helen had re- 
fused to enter the house. It was at the time when her 
father brought home his second wife. Miss Hannah had 
taken the matter in hand, and had not only talked to 
Mr. Carter, but of him, until Helen declared she would 
not go near her until she stopped. Whether the old 
lady missed the visits of the child, or whether she was 
ashamed of the way in which she had acted, I do not 
know ; but certain it is, that Helen renewed her visits, 
and the subject was never referred to, though Miss 
Hannah still showed her feeling on the subject by never 

23 


24 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


entering the house of which the new Mrs. Carter was the 
head. 

She was sitting in her accustomed seat by the old ma- 
hogany table, knitting, when Helen opened the door, 
and showed herself. Miss Hannah looked up, first over 
her spectacles, and then through them, without speaking. 

“I thought you might like to see my pretty new 
dress, Aunt Han,” said Helen, standing before her. 

“ Fine clothes and furbelows ! ” said the old lady, 
shaking her head. “ Where will it end ? You’ll be want- 
ing silks and satins and velvets next ; and you’ll be too 
fine to bring them here, where the styles have not changed 
for years. I am wearing the same bonnet I wore when 
your mother died, and I expect to wear it as long as I 
live. It’s like the one I had at the time of the Surren- 
der, and I find it as good a style as any. But, dear me, 
you young people have so many contraptions, that it 
takes one round like a whirlwind to catch up to them.” 

Helen allowed her aunt to have her say, and then 
asked : 

“ But you like my new things, don’t you, Aunt Han ? ” 

“ I don’t like anything that puts foolish notions in 
girls’ heads. There are enough there already and what 
with those they have naturally, and those that are put 
there by others, they have got way beyond me. There, 
child, if you’ll take off that thing on top of your head, 
and a few of those outside arrangements, I’ll get you 
an old apron, and you can help me get tea.” 

“Ought we to stay, John?” asked Helen, who, though 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


25 


accustomed to her aunt’s peculiar way of putting things, 
felt that she was even a little harder than usual this 
afternoon. 

“ Your clothes are too fine, are they, to rub against my 
old ones? What will it be when you get back, I wonder? 
Suppose you won’t come at all. There, go to my room 
at once ; and put those new-fangled contraptions out of 
my sight. Then you can go and talk to Cassy till I call 
you. I have some business to talk over with your 
brother.” 

A reassuring look from John kept the tears from 
coming. As she went to her aunt’s room, she said to 
herself : 

“ She does not mean it. It’s only her way.” And the 
trouble in her face was all gone when she reached the 
kitchen, and appeared before old Cassy. 

“ De Lawd bress yer, honey,” she said, quickly. 
“ Yer’s a sight such as dese yere ole eyes doan light on, 
ebery day. Wot yer ’spose me an’ ole missus gwine do, 
when yer’s gone ? I’s been a-studyin’ ’bout dat ting con- 
sid’ble lately ; an’ I reck’n ole missus ben adoin’ de same 
ting. She doan say nothin’ ; but I knows dey’s someat 
atroublin’ on ’er, an’ J. ’spicious dat am it.” 

“ Do you really think she will miss me much ? ” 
asked Helen. 

“ Ain’t no tinkin’ bout dat, I jis knows ’bout it. Lor 
sakes, chile, ain’t I ben ’structed perticler ’bout wot we’s 
ter hab ef dey’s comp'ny fur tea, dis yere week ; an’ doan 
I know dat ebery ting she ax fur special am de tings 


26 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


wot she jes’ knows yer likes ; an’ ain’t she come her own 
sef, yistiday, an’ make de little cakes, same’s she uster 
make when ye’s a mite uv a wee thing.” 

“ Has she really done all that for me ? ” asked Helen. 

“ In course she is, miss ; an’ pears like’s ef ter me, she 
ain’t ben able ter sittle down ter nothin’ sence Chewsday, 
when she knowed fur sartin ’bout yer gwine ’way.” 

“I’m glad you told me that, Cassy,” said Helen, 
pleasantly ; then she changed the subject at once, and in- 
quired about the old woman’s rheumatism, and kept her 
talking of herself while she was busy cooking some of 
the good things that had been ordered, in case there was 
company to tea. 

“ Aunt Han,” as she was often called by others besides 
her own family, had her own peculiar way of showing 
approbation or displeasure ; and John Carter understood 
her perhaps better than any one else, except old Cassy, 
who for years had listened to her “ sharp tongue ” with- 
out rebelling. John knew of more than one kind act 
that she had done, while at the same time allowing her 
tongue to say some very hard and bitter things. Indeed, 
he had learned to know that the harder the things she 
said, the softer were her feelings ; so he felt sure, during 
her remarks to Helen, that her feelings did not accord 
with her words, but he deemed it best to let her say what 
she wished, thinking that then, perhaps, she would soften 
materially. When they were alone, Aunt Han began, 
sharply : 

“ Why did not that child want to stay ? ” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


27 


“ She was afraid she might be wanted at home, I 
think,” was the reply. “And, besides, she left Annie 
Lyon at work for her ; and I think she wanted to see and 
thank her for what she has done.” 

“ Hm ! That woman has got to learn to get along with- 
out her, and thanks won’t spoil by keeping. I suppose 
that child thinks she’s a very fine bird, now, with her fine 
feathers; but I want to know, John Carter, where the 
money has come from.” 

“That’s my affair, Aunt Han, if you please,” said 
John. 

“ Why did you not tell me to mind my own business, 
in plain words, John Carter? Well, now you’ve made a 
fine bird of her, I suppose you are ready to let her go for 
good.” 

“ I don’t understand.” 

“Hm! You forget that when birds have once tried 
their wings, they are not so willing to come back to 
the parent nest.” 

“I have no fears for this one, on that score,” said 
John, decidedly. 

“They are sometimes trapped, and put in gilded 
cages.” v 

“ I do not think we need fear for that, either,” he said, 
pleasantly. 

“ Hm ! There’s no knowing what might happen before 
that child comes back to you, John Carter,” she said, 
diving down into her knitting bag, and bringing up an 
old-fashioned knitted purse. Opening it, she took from 


28 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


it a newer, fresher one, and handing it to her com- 
panion, said : 

“ That’s to go in a corner of her trunk where she’ll 
never see it till she gets to New York ; and she’s never to 
know where it came from.” 

John took the purse, but he could not conceal his sur- 
prise as he felt a thick roll of money in it, and he said, 
reproachfully : 

“ You ought not to do this, Aunt Han.” 

“And what right have you to dictate to me, Mr. John 
Carter ? ” she said, looking at him sternly from over the 
top of her spectacles ; but, without noticing, he continued 
in the same tone : 

“ I am afraid this is why you sold old Sooky.” 

“ I sold old Sooky because she was old. I’d like to 
know who had a better right to sell her than I, who have 
raised her from a calf?” 

“ For that very reason ” 

“ See here, John Carter, this is my ‘ mind your own 
business’ affair,” said Aunt Han, wrathfully ; and motion- 
ing with her hand and frowning ominously, she added : 
“ Put that thing out of my sight, I tell you. I never 
want to see it again.” 

“ Give me permission first to tell Nell where it comes 
from,” said John. 

“ Never,” was the decided reply. “ I have no inten- 
tion of letting her think she can come to me for more 
when that is gone. I tell you ” 

“If I thought you would ever dream of our Nell’s 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


29 


doing a thing of that kind, she should never touch one 
cent of this ; but I think better of you than that. You 
have made some great sacrifice to give her this money, 
and you do not wish her to know it.” 

“ I never make sacrifices,” was the gruff reply, as she 
rose, and, going to the door, called Cassy. 

“Such a lovely tea as we are going to have!” said 
Helen to her brother when she came into the room. 

“ I should think you did not get anything to eat at 
home,” said her aunt, sharply. 

“ Indeed we do,” was the reply, “ but not so many 
good things all at once.” And seating herself on a low, old- 
fashioned hassock, she asked if she might not wind some 
yarn, as she used to do when she was a little thing. 

“ Ladies of fashion don’t wind yarn nowadays,” was 
the reply. 

“ But I’m not a lady of fashion, auntie, and never will 
be. You could not make me one if you tried.” 

“ There have been plenty of them among your ances- 
tors, child.” 

“ That was all right,” said Helen. “They could afford 
it, but I never can.” 

“ All the same, you/d like to be a fine lady and wear 
fine clothes every day.” 

“ Not unless John could wear them too.” 

“ Well, well, we’ll see about that.” And in a somewhat 
softer mood she talked of other things until supper was 
announced ; and then Helen, in the exuberance of her own 
spirits, being sure that the many good things pro- 


30 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


vided that night had been forethoughts that they should 
take away the sting of her reception, would not 
allow anything her aunt said to throw a damper over her 
feelings. 

“John dear,” she said on her way home, “I felt so 
badly at first, until I thought that auntie did not mean 
her crossness.” 

“ No, dear, she does not,” was the reply ; “ she feels 
your leaving us very, very deeply, I am sure, and the 
sight of you in your pretty things brought it so forcibly 
before her that she gave vent to her feelings in her 
own peculiar way. She loves the little sister very 
dearly.” 

“ I think she does, John, and I wish her life was a 
happier one.” 

“ It is the life that best suits her, dear.” 

“ I suppose so, John. I know we all have our own 
places in the world ; but it seems, somehow, as though I 
were about to give mine up.” 

“We can’t any of us quite do that, dear ; but it de- 
pends on ourselves whether the places assigned to us are 
worthily filled. 

“ ' Thou earnest not to thy place by accident ; 

It is the very place God meant for thee.’ ” 

“ Yes, John ; but it seems like beginning over again.” 

" You will find that each day will bring its own work, 
and will become a yesterday with its records of that 
work. You remember, dear, how Longfellow puts it : 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


31 


“ ‘ For the structure that we raise, 

Time is with materials filled. 

Our to-days and yesterdays 
Are the blocks with which we build.’ ” 

“Won’t you give me an illuminated text to take away 
with me, John? You have given me some that have 
helped me so much here. Give me something new that 
will help me while away.” 

“ With pleasure, Nell ; and you can take this now in 
your thoughts : 

‘“With G-od even across the ocean, 

Without him, not even to the threshold.’ ” 


CHAPTER IY. 


A VISIT TO MAMMY TOT. 



E good Lawd hab mercy! Ef dat ain’t Miss 


Hel’n, den dese yer ole eyes o’ mine ain’t worth 


habin.” And Mammy Tot stood in the doorway of her 
cabin, and shaded her eyes with her hands as she looked 
off toward the public road. 

“ Whar yer done seed ’er ? ” asked a boy who sprang 
from the floor and now stood in the doorway by his 
grandmother’s side. 

“ Ober dar ’ginst dem pine bushes. Run along, ye 
lop-sided picaninny, an’ stan’ by dem bars ter Loyer 
Jones’ cotton patch so’s she kin walk fro 'thout hevin’ 
ter dim up and down on th’ other side.” 

“ I ain’t seed ’er yit,” said the boy, moving his head 
from side to side, and wrinkling his brows as though 
straining his eyes to see. 

“Wot ails ye, chile?” said his grandmother, giving 
him a vigorous shake. “ Ain’t I done tole ye dat she’s 
dar, an’ is ye done furgot all de manners I done treat ye 
to ? Is ye gwine stan’ dar an’ let dat young missus wot I 

lub better’n .” But the boy heard no more ; for, with 

a series of somersaults, he had started off to let down the 
bars. If his manner of locomotion was peculiar, his ap- 
pearance was more so, for he looked as though he had 


32 



The Southern Cousin 


Page 32 









THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


33 


been outgrowing the clothes he wore for a year, at least, 
and his long limbs, as they flew around in the air, seemed 
to glory in their freedom. Three somersaults and a run, 
repeated several times, brought him to the bars just in 
time to lower them for Helen. 

“ Howdy, Sambo,” she said, pleasantly, “ and thank 
you for coming to meet me.” 

“ Howdy, miss,” was the reply, as Sambo took from his 
head a cap that fitted so tightly that his antics had failed 
to loosen it. He grabbed it from the top, and stood twist- 
ing it in his hands as Helen stepped through the bars, 
and then replacing it and putting it down tightly, he 
proceeded to replace the bars. 

“ All well, Sambo ? ” asked Helen. 

“ Tol’ble, miss, cep’ de critter.” 

“ There’s nothing the matter with Caesar, is there ? ” 
she asked, in a voice of some concern. 

“ Ben havin’ a spell o’ somethin’ nother.” 

“ I hope he’s all right now.” 

“ Reckon.” 

An important member of many colored families in 
the South is the “ critter,” sometimes a horse or mule, 
but most frequently, as dn this case, a steer. Many a 
time had Helen met Sambo walking by the side of 
Caesar, whose harness consisted of ropes and chains and 
gayly colored pieces of cloth. The wagon he drew was a 
two-wheeled one, and looked as though made of trees 
that had been cut down, stripped of their branches, and 
put together “just so.” Sometimes it held a bale of cot- 
c 


34 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


ton, on its way to town, and sometimes a load of wood, 
the load consisting of about a dozen small logs, on the 
top of which was tied a bundle of fodder for “ the critter.” 
Helen knew the sickness or loss of “ the critter ” meant 
a loss of revenue to the family, and was somewhat dis- 
tressed by what she had heard; but she could get nothing 
further out of Sambo, so contented herself with waiting 
till she could inquire of an older member of the family. 

“ De Lawd bless yer, honey,” said Mammy Tot, as 
Helen greeted her. “I jes’ knowed they’s some one 
a-comin’, kase my nose done ben vitchin’ all dis yere 
bressed day, but I ain’t neber dreamin’ none dat it ud be 
you. You Mandy, you fetch out a cheer fur Miss Hel’n, 
an’ be spry ’bout it, too,” she said, turning to a half-grown 
girl, who stood gaping at Helen as though she was some 
rare curiosity. 

“ I was afraid you would be in the cotton field,” said 
Helen, when she had spoken to the children and taken 
the seat brought by Mandy. 

“ Dev ain’t pickin’ none ter-day, fur de cotton gatin’ 
scace dis time o’ year, an’ de ole man he in de woods 
pickin’ up bresh an’ stuff fur fire-wood, come winter.” 

The cabin, outside of which Helen was sitting, was 
constructed of logs, and consisted of but one room ; but in 
that everything was as neat and clean as in “ my ladv’s 
parlor.” For Mammy Tot had profited by the lessons 
given her by “ ole missus,” and took pride in having 
others see she “ done ben brung up by de qual’tv.” 

“ Yer see,” she would say when questioned, “ dey’s a 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


35 


heap o’ po’ backers* wot an*t nebber had no lamin’ dat 
kin’, ’case dey’s allers riz fiel’ hans ; but I’s one o’ 
dem kin’ wot’s allers a house sarvint, an’ I’s allers per- 
tickler now ’bout habin’ eberyting same ’s ef my ole 
missus gwine come in de do’ nex’ minute en’ see it.” 

Certainly everything was clean and neat outside as well 
as in ; even the stones that were piled up on the outside 
and formed a chimney looked as though they might have 
been polished off quite recently. 

There were many matters of family interest to be 
talked over between Helen and Mammy Tot, and among 
them came an account of the troubles with the critter ; 
but, as they were all over, they were soon left for others, 
and then came a discussion of the proposed trip North. 

“ How fur ye reckin it am, Miss Helen ? ” asked 
Mammy Tot. 

“ It’s a long, long way,” was the reply. “ I shall have 
to travel all night and most of the next day to get there.” 

“ Laws-a-massy, miss ! Takes a heap o’ money ter git 
dar.” 

“ Yes, mammy, but Uncle John has been kind enough 
to say he would pay that.” 

“De Lawd bress ’im, chile! He am a gemman sho’ ; 
but I warn’t a-studyin’ ’bout dat. I’s a-studyin’ ’bout de 
time Miss Lettie, she went Norf, an’ she’s tuk sick an’ 
dey’s a great ter do ’bout sendin’ uv a nuss ter wait on 
’er an’ tend ter ’er. Yer see ef dey’s anvting dat ole 


* Poor blacks. 


36 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


Mammy Tot kin do fur de chile wot she tended an’ riz on 
her knee, dev ain’t no sort o’ use tryin’ ter hender uv it.” 

“Do you mean that you would really leave Uucle Joe 
and the children and go North, if I needed you ? ” asked 
Helen, as the color mounted to her cheeks and her eyes 
gazed eagerly into those of the old woman. 

“ Sho’ nuff, chile ; does yer ’spose I gwine d’sert my 
people dat er way, when my ole missus she holp ter 
tend me wid ’er own hans when I’s down wid de fever ? 
Law, Miss Helen, dey’s one time dat dey’s ten, twelve ov 
us down ter onct wid de fever, an’ dat dar good ’ooman 
she ain’t hed ’er cloths offen ’er back days an nights. 
She jes’ tended ter all we same ’s ef we’s ez white ez snow. 
Reck’n we’d a died ef she hadn’t, but she say dat she 
sponsible ter de Lawd fur de way we tooken keer on. 
Dat one good ’ooman, Miss Hel’n, an’ ye tink dis ole 
nigger gwine furgit de good tings she done teach, an’ let 
one ob de family suffer fur wot she kin do ? ” 

“ But you know Uncle Joe might have something to say 
about your leaving him and the children. You have 
them to take care of now,” said Helen, touched by the 
old woman’s words. 

“Ye tink dat Joe gwine stop me frum holpin’ one o’ 
my ole missus famley, time come dat dey needs it ? Den 
he ain’t wurthy ter be de man wot I tuk fur good an’ 
all. Naw, miss; Joe, he de fus’ one ter say go, fur he 
feared, udderways, ter meet ole missus when he wants 
ter get trou de golden gates. Yer see, Miss Hel’n, I’s 
riz befo’ dey begun ter tink ’bout lamin’ all we ter read 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


37 


an’ write, ’kas ole missus, she done that. I kin study 
now an’ tell Joe an’ de cliillens ’bout de tings she larned 
all we en de good book. Dey’s a heap on it wot I dis- 
remembers, but times in church de preacher hits on 
someat dat jes’ de berry ting. Day’s one ting dat I ain’t 
nebber gin’ up nohow, dat fits in now. I disremember 
zactly de words but de mean in’ am dat ef dey’s trouble 
er sickness anywhar I knows on dat I kin holp ter 
better, den I’s bound ter go. Same’s ef I’s adyin’ my- 
sef an’ aprayin’ fur de Lawd ter holp me.” 

“ I know what you mean,” said Helen, intending to 
give her a verse to illustrate the thought, but stopped by 
hearing, just back of the cabin, a deep, bass voice singing 
these words : 

“Way down by de rising sun, sun, sun, 

When my Lawd calls me home, 

Yer walk de golden streets, streets, streets, 

Ob de New Jeru-sa-lum.” 

“ Ef dat ain’t de ole man done come back,” said 
Mammy Tot. Then, raising her voice, she called, “ Joe, 
yere’s Missy Hel’n done come out yere ter see all we.” 

A moment later the old man appeared, and with a 
broad grin on his face, ahd his hat in his hand, said : 

“ Ef I ain’t tickled ter see ye, miss, an’ I ’specs de ole 
’ooman, she clean gone wid de proud feelins. I ben 
a-tellin’ on ’er dat she mus’ go see ye befo’ yer’s done 
gone away ; but law sakes, I ain’t neber s’picioned, now, 
dat ye’s acomin’ out yere, all dis ere way.” 


38 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ But I have come, you see, and Mammy Tot will 
come and see me too, before I go, I hope ? ” 

“ Dat she will. Shell be dar, sho’s yer bawn, miss.” 
When it was time for her to return, Sambo again 
accompanied her to the bars. Looking back from there, 
she could see the family still standing where she had 
left them ; old Joe with his hat in his hand staring after 
her, with Mandy by his side, looking as though she ex- 
pected their visitor to return. Mammy Tot was shading 
her face with her hands, while the two grandchildren by 
her side held tightly in their arms dolls that were relics 
of her own childhood, and were brought forth always on 
the occasions of her visits. She waved her hand back to 
them and then, turning, proceeded on her way, looking 
for the brother who was coming to meet her. 


CHAPTER V. 


THE DEPARTURE. 

rnHE day had at last arrived when Helen was to 
start on her trip North. Her trunk had been 
locked and strapped at breakfast time by John, who told 
her she must turn her back while he put his text in a 
corner, for she was not to look at it until she reached her 
destination. Always neat in her appearance, for there 
was never anything careless or disorderly about her 
dress, she looked unusually well to-day as she went about 
her household duties as usual, with perhaps this differ- 
ence, that there were tender thoughts for others that 
showed themselves in little deeds that would only be 
appreciated after she was gone. Mammy Tot had arrived 
early in the morning, intending to stay all day, “ an’ do 
fur Miss Hel’n.” She it was who answered the summons 
to the door when a stranger presented himself and asked : 
“ Does Miss Helen Carter live here ? ” 

“ Ya-as, sir, dat she do,” was the reply. “ Walk in, sir. 
Dis yere way, sir.” And she led him into a room open- 
ing out of what was evidently the parlor. A very old 
piano and music stand, with heavily carved legs and 
brass ornamentations, led him to suppose that it had at 
one time been a music room, whatever its present use 
might be. It was a chilly day in early fall, and the bright 

39 


40 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


wood fire in the open fireplace proved very attractive to 
Mr. Duncan, who was standing before it when Helen 
entered. 

As I have said before, there was something very at- 
tractive about Helen’s face, though it was by no means 
beautiful. The one feature that proved a sore and sensi- 
tive point with her was the nose, which just escaped 
being a pug. She had a funny way of expressing sym- 
pathy for it that amused John, to whom her face was 
always lovely. It was the soul shining through the eyes, 
he said, that gave it a beauty nothing else could have 
done. 

It was evidently something of this which Mr. Duncan 
saw when Helen first stood before him, for in speaking of 
the meeting afterward, he said : 

“ Without being strictly beautiful, it was one of the 
loveliest faces I ever saw. There were truth and 
honesty in it ; and though I saw by the rising color, 
that she was somewhat excited at meeting me, she 
was perfectly at her ease, and very cordial in her wel- 
come. I could not help wishing some of our society 
belles could take pattern from her ; and yet she wore a 
calico dres3 and white apron. Nor was it the kind we 
read of in novels, showing no sign of anything but folded 
hands. No, she had been at work, I could see ; but that, 
somehow, only added to her attractiveness.” 

To Helen this meeting was a very great surprise ; for 
she had understood that she was not to meet Mr. Duncan 
until she went to the train that afternoon ; and when he 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


41 


explained that he found he could reach the town some 
hours sooner, and thought she might like to see her 
escort and decide if she could like him well enough to 
trust herself with him, she said, simply : 

“ I never thought, for an instant, that uncle would let 
me go with any one I would not like.” 

“ But taste3 differ, you know,” he said ; “ and I con- 
fess I was a little curious about my charge.” 

She blushed slightly as she said : 

“John will be very glad to see you.” 

“Who is John?” 

“ My brother.” 

The two words were said so proudly and with such a 
happy light in the eye3, that Mr. Duncan felt quite 
anxious himself to meet this brother, and asked : 

“ Is he at home ? ” 

“ He is at the other end of the farm, attending to some 
work there, but will be back in a little while to dinner, 
and will then be at leisure.” 

“ I am sorry, then, that I will not see him till later ; 
for I only meant to disturb you a few moments, long 
enough to give you a glimpse of the old man who is to 
look after you for a while.” 

“ But you have nothing else to do? ” she asked. 

“ Nothing particular ; but I can amuse myself looking 
about.” 

“ John will be so disappointed if you do not stay and 
dine with us,” she said, simply. “ I can have dinner a 
little earlier, if you prefer.” 


42 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


She wa3 so earnest that Mr. Duncan was amused, as 
he replied : 

“ My dear young lady, I have some respect for you 
and your packing. I know girls always have a thousand 
and one last things to do before going away.” 

“ Not all girls,” said Helen, laughing, “ for I am one, 
and my trunk is locked and strapped. If that is your 

only reason for not staying, you But perhaps you 

would rather not,” she said, suddenly, looking at him 
earnestly. 

“ It is not often, Miss Carter,” he said, replying with 
equal earnestness, “that I receive such a cordial invi- 
tation ; and you can hardly understand the great pleasure 
it gives me to accept.” 

A word to Mammy Tot was all that was necessary to 
insure a dinner with such changes as Helen deemed 
advisable, and then she could return to her guest and 
question him in regard to the different members of her 
uncle’s family ; for apart from the fact that there was a 
cousin near her own age, she knew little concerning 
them. In the midst of a description of them, a child’s 
voice was heard calling in a discontented tone : 

“ Sister ! Sister ! ” 

The next moment the door was thrown open and in 
rushed a bright, rosy-cheeked boy whose hat had fallen 
from his head but was still hanging around his neck. He 
held a ball in one hand, and said complainingly and 
very rapidly, pausing to catch his breath at intervals : 

“ Maud’s as mean — as mean as she can be. She won’t 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 43 

play and she won’t even speak to me. She’s got the 
dumps and — and I don’t like girls with the dumps.” 

Helen did not try to stop him until he had entirely 
finished ; and then she said gently, putting an arm about 
him : 

“ I am afraid you have forgotten something, dear, or 
did you not notice that there was company here?” 

The little fellow hung his head a moment, and then 
holding out his hand, allowed it to be taken by Mr. 
Duncan, who, after asking a few questions, released him. 
Then, as though conscious of having done his duty, he 
turned once more to Helen and said : 

“ Please make Maud play with me. I’m lonely.” 

“What! with all the beautiful sunshine outside? 
Where is Maud, dear ? ” 

“ She’s upstairs on your bed ; and she says she’s not 
going to leave it till you go away. She’s just horrid.” 

“Haven’t you made a mistake of some kind, dear?” 
said Helen, with an arm about him again. “ If you 
really thought she was horrid, I don’t think you would 
want her to play with you. Ah ! here comes a dear 
little playmate ! I think she will be glad of some one 
too.” To her surprise, iiowever, the child, a golden- 
haired one of three years, went directly to Mr. Duncan 
and without hesitation asked : 

“ Is you doin’ ter take sister Then away ? Maud says 
so.” 

“ Yes, sister’s going away with me this afternoon,” said 
Mr. Duncan ; “ but won’t you come and talk to me ? ” 


44 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ Me don’t like you,” she said, turning at once to 
Helen and burying her face in her lap. Helen lifted 
her from the floor, and the child put her arms around her 
neck and laid her head on her shoulder, saying as she 
did so : “ Me don’t want you go way. Me hav no one 

mind dolly.” 

“ Yes, you will,” said her brother, somewhat impatiently. 
“ Brother John will do it. He can do anything.” 

Thinking it best to manage the children by themselves, 
Helen took them from the room and did not appear her- 
self until dinner time. By that time Mr. Duncan had 
met both John and Mrs. Carter. The latter had in- 
tended staying in her room till the excitement of Helen’s 
departure had passed ; but the arrival of a stranger, and 
one from New York, roused her and took her to the 
dining room. 

It was a meal Mr. Duncan long remembered, and of 
which he often spoke ; for while everything was plain and 
simple, it was particularly inviting. No elaborate prep- 
arations had been made on his account, and yet he felt 
very sure that he was heartily welcome by two, at least, 
of those at the table. One member of the family he did 
not see during his visit. Maud’s grief over Helen’s de- 
parture was such that she refused to be comforted. She 
was the child Mrs. Carter had brought with her, and at 
one time had been quite delicate. Taking the part of 
nurse as well as housekeeper, Helen had devoted herself 
to the child until, as she grew older and developed into 
rather an awkward, bashful girl, she had looked to Helen 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


45 


for sympathy and help. She realized now what a loss 
her adopted sister would be, and wept and moaned like 
one to whom the world had lost all its brightness. Next 
to leaving John, Helen felt distressed at leaving Maud. 
She knew the sensitive nature of the child, but also knew 
what influence and help could do for her. She had 
talked to her a good deal lately about the place she 
could make for herself in her home. 

“ If I could do things like you, I would not mind 
trying,” said the child. 

<; I was not much older than you when I began,” said 
Helen. “ I did not know any more.” 

In this way she tried to make Maud feel that she could 
in a measure take her place, though she left her strongest 
argument till the last. It was while she was in her room 
that she took the opportunity, and after talking to her 
for a while, said: 

“ There is one thing, Maud, I am going to ask you to 
do as a favor to me. You are only a little girl, dear, 
but you can do things that will make me very happy, 
and some one else too. I want you to look after Brother 
John for me.” v 

“ But, sister, I can’t do that.” 

“ Yes, you can. You can look over his clothes every 
week and see that Annie keeps them mended while you 
keep them in order in his drawers, and see that his room 
is kept as he likes it ; and then, if you only would, you 
might fix nice little things for him to eat. You know 
what he likes.” 


46 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ But I couldn’t do it like you do.” 

“ Never mind, you can try ; and even if you fail, John 
will be so pleased.” 

“ It’s different with you, sister. Everybody likes you.” 

“ Then I would make up my mind, if I were you, that 
everybody should like me. There is no reason why they 
should not, for God has given you a kind little heart, 
and if you will only forget self and try every day to 
think of something you can do for some one else, you have 
no idea how happy you will be ; and happiness can show 
in the face, you know, and can spread itself around over 
others. I shall pray to God every day to help you, dear, 
and I am very sure if you do the same thing and try 
your best, that I will have a little sister to be proud of 
some day. Then, I am going to ask you, too, if you 
won’t go to Brother John sometimes and talk to him. 
Don’t let him feel, while I am away, that he has no little 
sister who is glad to sit with and walk and talk with 
him.” 

While Helen was thus talking to her adopted sister 
and leaving behind her not only words, but an influence 
that was to make those words seem more impressive in 
the future, Mammy Tot was interviewing Mr. Duncan. 
She had watched her opportunity, and when she had 
found him alore had said: 

“ Ye’s sho’ dat chile, Miss Helen, ain’t gwine want fur 
nuthin’, ef she’s sick er nuthin’, whar she gwine? ” 

“ I hope not, certainly,” said Mr. Duncan, surprised at 
the question. 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


47 


“Ye see,” continued Mammy Tot, “ole missus, when 
she’s adyin’, done lef’ er chillen an’ granchillen ter dis 
yere ole col’ed ’ooman ter keer fur ef dey’s leastways 
en trouble. Dey ain’t ben de time when Miss Helen 
ain’t lied Mammy Tot ter keer fur her. I’s ben a studyin’ 
’bout dat ting when she's away. Ef she’s sick and 
wants me, how I gwine know ? She ain’t gwine send fur 
me, kase she tink it take heaps o’ money ter git dar ; 
but me an’ de ole man done lay by some, an’ dey’s all de 
money de fambly done make on de cotton crap dis summer 
wot ain’t ben teched, an’ we kin sell de critter, needs be.” 

“ You mean me to understand, then, that if Miss 
Helen is sick, or needs you, you would like to know ? ” 

“ Dat I would.” 

“And if I promise you that if you are needed you 
shall be sent for, will it make you more comfortable ? ” 

“ De good Lawd gwine bress ye sho’ fur dat word,” 
said Mammy Tot, clasping her hands. But she had no op- 
portunity for saying more, as John Carter came into the 
room ; and before very long Helen herself appeared in a 
neatly fitting cloth suit that had served for best two 
winters and was now to be used for traveling. 

Helen’s plan was to start a little early and stop on the 
way to bid her aunt good-bye ; but she was nowhere to be 
found, and Cassy knew nothing of her whereabouts. 
When they were at the depot, however, she appeared 
suddenly, and handing Helen a lunch basket, with a 
muttered remark about the miserable stuff she would get 
to eat, disappeared almost as suddenly as she had come. 


CHAPTER VI. 


MEETING NEW RELATIONS. 


HOSE who have always lived in the bustle and 



J- whirl of a great city can scarcely appreciate the 
feeling that conies over one who is brought in contact 
with it for the first time. To Helen, who had been 
brought up in a very quiet place, the rush and confusion 
that greeted her in Jersey City frightened her ; and by 
the time she was placed in her uncle’s carriage in New 
York, surrounded by a perfect network of vehicles of 
all kinds and great masses of humanity moving hur- 
riedly in various directions, she was trembling from ex- 
citement. She never quite remembered' how she thanked 
Mr. Duncan for his kindness, but she always did remem- 
ber that long drive and the feeling she had that some- 
thing terrible must happen, until they reached the more 
quiet streets. She tried to talk, but found it hard to do 
more than reply to her uncle’s questions ; and he, not 
understanding her feelings and finding her rather ab- 
sent-minded when he spoke to her, pronounced her in 
his own mind “a very uninteresting, plain-looking girl,” 
and he even wondered at himself for having sent for her 
without ever having seen her. He was glad when he 
could hand her over to her aunt, a tall, handsome woman, 
in a black silk dress so heavily laden with glittering, 


48 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


49 


jingling jet, that Helen wondered liow she could possibly 
walk in it. 

Mrs. Carter touched Helen’s cheek lightly with her 
lips, said some pleasant little things, and then, explain- 
ing that her Cousin Adele was at her Byron class but 
would return before very long, placed her in the care of 
a maid who was to take her to her room ; and she was 
told that she would have time to rest and dress before 
dinner. 

Left to herself, she looked about and found her room 
a very beautiful one, with heavy curtains at the windows 
and a bright fire in the grate. It was much more elegant 
than any she had ever seen, and yet, when she had seated 
herself in a low chair before the fire, she hid her face in 
her hands and wished with all her heart that she was 
back in the dear old room at home; wished that she had 
her arms about dear John, and that she was never going 
to leave him again. Somehow, everything seemed so 
different from what she had expected. But what would 
John say if he knew she was homesick already? She 
must stop that, and rising, she proceeded to remove her 
wraps and freshen herself up. Scarcely had she done 
so, when a servant announced the arrival of her trunk. 
That, at least, was one familiar object, and it did her 
good to see it. It was like a little bit of home set down 
in the midst of all this strangeness. Opening it quickly 
that she might have more familiar objects about her, she 
saw at once John’s illuminated text, and with a cry of 
joy, took it and read the following words : 

D 


50 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ Count that day lost whose low descending sun 
Views from thy hands no worthy action done.” 

“ How like John ! ” she said, with tears in her eyes, 
then added, rather mournfully : “ There will be many, 
many lost days for me, I am afraid. If it was John, 
now, he is always doing good, unselfish things; but 

I , here I am because my uncle, out of the kindness 

of his heart, invited me and wanted me to have a good 
time ; and what are the first feelings I have ? Gratitude, 
and a desire to show him that I appreciate his kindness? 
No, no ; for all I want is to be at home again. Oh, John 
dear, how could I ever leave you ! ” 

She was on the point of bursting into tears, when a 
small package attracted her attention. Examining it 
curiously she found the purse John had been commis- 
sioned to secrete in her trunk, and with it a little note 
from John himself. 

“ Just think of your having a fairy godmother,” it said. 
“ What she has secreted for you in this purse, I do not 
know, nor am I at liberty to tell you how it came, nor 
when ; whether down the chimney, or through the win- 
dow ; nor the color of the cloak the dear old lady wore. 
You can’t guess, either ; so all you have to do is to thank 
her in your heart, and use the gift, as I am sure my little 
sister will, wisely. I can imagine your eyes opening wide 
in wonder, but it is of no use ; you’ll have to give up 
wondering. Leave it to John to do the wondering— first, 
as to how and when you will find this, and if you may 
not be a little bit homesick at first among strange scenes 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


51 


and strange people. It will not last long, dear, for the 
scenes will grow more and more familiar, and my little 
sister has such a bright, happy, helpful disposition that 
no one can know her without loving her ; and you know, 
dear, what power that gives one for good or evil. Be 
your own bright, happy self, ready to do any work the 
Master may have for you. Do not trouble yourself 
about the future, but remember it is the to-days that 
make the yesterdays ; to-morrow may never come. 
Watch, and take care of the to-days, then, remembering 
that John is praying constantly that you may be kept 

under the shadow of His wings and may have his ” 

Here Helen’s tears flowed so freely that they dimmed 
her eyes and she could not for a moment read the last 
words. She wondered to herself how it was that John 
always understood her feelings, and knew just what to 
say to do her good ; for nothing in the world could have 
done her the good wrought by those words of his. A 
faint knock at the door caused her to open it a little 
wonderingly. A pair of dark eyes shaded by heavy 
bangs looked up at her, as a child’s voice asked : 

“ I’m Bessie. May I come in ? ” 

“ Indeed you may,” said Helen, dropping on her knees 
and putting her arms about the child’s neck and kissing 
her ; “ but you knocked so faintly, I hardly heard you.” 

“ I thought you might be resting or asleep, and was 
afraid to knock loud.” 

“ You need never be afraid of that, dear, for I never 
lie down in the daytime.” As she spoke she closed the 


52 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


door and drew the child to the fire. Here was some one 
she could love and talk to ; and she at once set about in- 
teresting the child and trying to make a friend of her. 
Bessie proposed soon that they should go to the “ sitting 
room,” explaining that it was the room where she and 
Tom spent most of their time, and they liked it better 
than any room in the house. It was a pleasant room, 
with pot flowers in the windows, and, what pleased Helen 
at once, a beautiful gray parrot with a scarlet tail. She 
tried to get him to talk, but all he would say was, gruffly, 
“ What ! what ! ” 

“ I say, Bess,” said a boy’s voice at the door, “ has 
the new cousin come ? ” 

“ Yes, here she is,” said Helen, stepping forward and 
presenting herself. “ I suppose you are Tom.” 

For answer Tom came fully into the room aud stood 
with wide-open eyes gazing at the new arrival. A pro- 
longed whistle at last greeted Helen, whose color had 
risen rapidly during the boy’s scrutiny. 

“ I say, Bess,” said Tom, “won’t Adele be surprised? 
There’ll be some fun now. She don’t look a bit green, 
does she ? ” 

“ Did you expect me to be very green ? ” said Helen, 
anxious to say something, yet hardly knowing what. 

“As green as grass, as tall as a bean pole, and as 
awkward as a waddly goose,” was the reply. “ Adele will 
be taken aback. You see, because you come from some 
place she never heard of, she thinks you are a kind of 
Hottentot, and she just thinks she’s going to have a good 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


53 


time playing missionary and trying to civilize you. She’s 
set her heart on that, and I really believe she has per- 
suaded father to give her an allowance to be used for 
clothes for you. I am rather surprised that she did not 
have a photographer on the spot to give her a chance in 
the future to show two pictures, one entitled, ‘ When she 
Came,’ the other, ‘ When she Left.’ ” 

“ Stop, Tom,” said Helen ; “ it is not right for you to 
speak so of your sister, and it is not right for me to 
listen.” 

“ Just you make up your mind at once, cousin,” said 
Tom, with a quick movement of the head, “ that Tom 
Carter never yet was known to do what he should. When 
he does, there’ll be something wrong somewhere. You 
see, I am the thorn in the family flesh. I’m wanted to 
be a dude, and I shy off to the other extreme as far as 
possible. But hist ! Here comes the princess. Now for 
some fun.” 

Surely the girl who came in just then must have heard 
Tom’s remark, but if she did, she took no notice of it, a3 
she said, turning to Helen : 

“ You have found your way to the children’s sitting 
room, I see. I trust you will be able to make yourself 
contented until I can take you about and show you the 
sights. I suppose it all seems strange and very grand 
to you now.” 

“ I was never in so large a place before,” said Helen, 
simply. 

“ Well, there will be enough for you to see and learn 


54 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


to turn your brain almost. I am kept very busy myself 
with calls, receptions, operas, etc. This afternoon I was 
at my Byron class. We meet twice a month aud I will 
be glad to take you with me some time, if you care to 
study up a little first about Byron and his life.” 

“ I say, Adele,” said Tom, abruptly, “ I’ll bet a quarter 
she knows as much about Byron now as you do.” 

“When will you learn to act decently, Tom?” said 
his sister, impatiently. “We can’t expect Helen to be so 
well informed in some things as we who have been differ- 
ently brought up ; but if she is bright and quick, she can 
soon pick up many things that will be of great use to her. 
I am ashamed of you, but I must go and get ready for 
dinner. I will come back and take you down,” she said, 
as she moved away. She had come in with a great deal 
of manner, enveloped almost in fur, and she had kept 
up a patronizing air that had made Helen feel rather 
uncomfortable, but she did not show it when Tom said 
quickly : 

“ I say, you know who Byron was, don’t you ? ” 

“ Yes,” was the reply. 

“ Then why didn’t you say so, and take the princess 
down a peg.” 

“ I didn’t think it best, just then.” 

“You didn’t, didn’t you! Well, there’s something 
queer about you I must say ; but I think I rather like 
you, on the whole. You didn’t do much to take the 
princess down, but I believe you’ve got grit and spunk ; 
and I like that. Did you see the surprise in the old 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


55 


lady’s eyes — she’s too dignified to show it any other way — 
when she saw you ? I knew it by the tone of her voice. 
You were not quite green enough to suit.” 

“ Stop, Tom,” said Helen, decidedly. “ I won’t listen 
to another word.” 

“ Then I’m off to rig myself out a little, or I’ll hear 
from the governor at dinner.” 


CHAPTER VII. 


CONTRAST. 

I F Adele expected Helen to be bewildered and con- 
fused by the elegance of her surroundings at dinner, 
she was disappointed ; for Helen showed no surprise in 
her manner, which was quiet and much more natural 
than her cousin’s. Her first feelings of terror, followed 
by loneliness, had passed away, and Mr. Carter looked 
at her a little wonderingly ; for she scarcely seemed the 
same girl he had met so short a time ago. She was plain, 
and yet there was something attractive in her plainness. 
His own daughter was gorgeously attired in a dress open 
at the throat and loaded elsewhere with trimmings, while 
her fingers and wrists were generously covered with 
jewels. She had expected “ the little country girl ” to 
envy her and to be quite overshadowed by her greatness. 
Indeed, she had expected her at once to become her slave ; 
but somehow she did not seem to succeed as she had 
expected. Mr. Carter knew enough of his daughter’s 
character to gues3 at part that was going on in her mind, 
and looking from one to the other and noticing the con- 
trast between them, he almost regretted having brought 
the girl with the fresh, happy look and natural manners, 
to a place where so much was artificial. Could she keep 
from being contaminated? Ho. She would be like 
56 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


57 


others when she left; but just now he liked to watch her 
face light up when she talked. He even tried to make 
her talk by asking her about different members of the 
family. When he mentioned John, her eyes sparkled, 
and she said brightly : 

“ He is one of Longfellow’s ‘ heroes in the strife.’ I 
don’t think a truer, nobler man ever lived.” 

“ I believed in heroes once, but not now,” said Adele, 
with a shrug of her shoulders intended to convey the im- 
pression that she did not think much of any one who did ; 
“ and I care very little for Longfellow. I admire men 
of more depth.” 

“ Oh ! ” said Helen, quickly, as her eyes sparkled again 
and the color came excitedly into her face, “ how can you 
help liking him? To me, he is full of depth ; searching 
down into human nature, and putting into beautiful, help- 
ful words, thoughts and feelings we would otherwise 
scarce understand, or even know the existence of. And 
he says such soft, tender, useful things, giving us new 
ideas and a desire to live up to them. His own life, too, 
has been so beautiful.” 

“ Better dot that down for future use, Adele,” said 
Tom. 

“ Be quiet, sir,” said Mr. Carter, in a quick, stern voice. 

The boy was quiet, but suspiciously so. For his 
father, noticing that he had stopped eating and was 
staring fixedly at Helen, asked the cause. 

“ I’m w’atching to see her eat with her knife. Adele 
said she would.” 


58 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ Leave the room, sir,” said his father, In a voice of 
stern command. 

“ Much obliged to you for giving me the opportunity 
sir,” said Tom, rising. 

Helen’s color had risen ; and she had quickly dropped 
her knife and fork when Tom spoke. She recovered 
enough to say : 

“ Uncle, I don’t think Tom meant to be rude.” 

“ Yes, he did. The boy has been going from bad to 
worse lately, until he has become perfectly unbearable ; 
and I see nothing to do now” — here he looked at Mrs. 
Carter, who had sighed deeply when Tom was sent away — 
“ but to look out for a boarding school for him, where he 
will be more strictly dealt with than here.” 

The rest of the dinner was by no means comfortable, 
and Helen thought it would never end. Mr. Carter 
would have nothing more to say ; and his looks were so 
dark and forbidding, that it seemed to affect every one 
else. Helen was glad when it was all over, and her 
aunt informed her that Adele was expecting company, 
and if she did not care to stay downstairs, or was tired, 
she could go right to her room. She eagerly availed 
herself of this opportunity of writing to John, and saying 
good-night pleasantly to her aunt and cousin who, in 
their sweeping trains, stood at the foot of the stairs as she 
went up, she hurried off ; but before she reached her 
room, Tom’s voice called her and asked her to come to 
the sitting room. 

“ I say,” he said, awkwardly, when she came in, " I 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


59 


didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It was Adele. Don’t 
you hate her ? ” 

“No,” said Helen, decidedly; “and you have no right 
to say or do things to make me feel uncomfortably 
toward her.” 

“I can’t help it. She puts on so many airs, she just 
makes me do it.” 

“ Yes, you can help it, if you want to.” 

“ You don’t know. Just wait till you know me a little 
better and you’ll see I can’t help it. No one would ever 
say that of me that you said of your brother.” 

“ That may be your own fault. I don’t think anybody 
could be quite like John ; but there are lots of others — ” 

“ But you don’t think I could be one ? ” 

“I’m not so sure of that. Have you ever tried ? ” 

“ Nobody ever cared.” 

“ How do you know ? ” 

“ Oh, I know. No one cares for me. They’d all like 
to be rid of me. I did think at one time of going off 
somewhere and never letting any one know where I was.” 

“ Oh, how dreadful, Tom ! Just think how distressed 
every one would be.” 

“ Don’t believe it. The governor and I fight about 
every time we meet. You see he wants me to study law, 
and I want to study medicine, or something like that ; 
and so we have it. He says law, and I say no ; and up 
and down the scale we go. There’s a rhyme ! Stop now, 
while I make a wish.” 

His gestures had been so perfectly absurd as he made 


60 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


the rhyme that Helen, in spite of herself, could not help 
laughing ; but when she was sober enough to command 
her voice, she said : 

“ Tom, did you ever seriously discuss the subject with 
your father, and tell him exactly how you felt about it ? ” 

“ No use, I assure you. I told him one day that I 
wanted to be a doctor ; and the next day he found out 
that I had chloroformed Adele’s favorite cat and chopped 
her up to see how she breathed. That was the last of my 
studying medicine, and I knew it.” 

“ But what a dreadful thing to do ! ” 

“ Doctors have to do such things ; and I thought I 
might as well begin at once, and perhaps I could dis- 
cover something of value to the scientific world.” 

“I’m afraid you don’t try to do things in the right 
way. It seems to me if you would go to your father and 
tell him in the right way what you want, and not do such 
dreadful things, he would listen to you.” 

“ You might do that, but Tom Carter would only make 
a botch of it. If it was not for Bess, I would cut and run, 
anyway ; but you see she's lonely often, and I can keep 
her company and tell her things to make her laugh. She 
and I get along all right together, though she tries to 
scold me some. She’s all that keeps me here.” 

“ Let me help her keep you here, then, for a while ; for 
I want you to help me.” 

“Hello! What’s up?” 

“ Only this. I don’t eat with my knife, Tom, and I 
do know something of Byron, if I do live so far from 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


61 


New York ; but there are a good many other things that 
will be new and strange to me, and I will be so glad if 
you will tell me when I do or say anything that is 
odd.” 

“ For true ! Do you mean that ? ” 

“ Of course I do.” 

“And you think if I tried you might like me well 
enough to let me touch that brother with a ten-foot pole ? ” 

“ Oh, Tom ! ” said Helen, reproachfully. 

“I say, you’re my cousin, really and truly. No 
shamming? ” 

“ Of course I am.” 

“'Then give us your hand. I’m proud of it, and I’ll 

no, I won’t, either, for I suppose I’ll be just as bad 

as ever ; but I say, I am glad you’re my cousin, though.” 

Bessie here appeared, and the subject was changed at 
once, Helen inquiring something of the studies of both, 
for she saw schoolbooks about. Bessie, she learned, 
went to a kindergarten, and the books were all Tom’s. 
Tom was very much surprised to find how familiar Helen 
was with the subjects of which they treated, even to his 
Latin books. 

“ I say,” he asked, “ where did you pick up so much ? 
I thought- ” 

“ That we have no schools in the South ? Then you 
are mistaken,” said Helen; “and I am afraid you are 
just as ignorant of life outside of New York as I am 
inside. It is true I owe much of the little I do know to 
John. There are many books and subjects on which I 


62 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


would be much more ignorant than I am, if John had 
not kindly devoted many of his evenings to reading aloud 
to me. We learned many things together in that way; 
for John would only choose subjects then that I could 
enjoy as well as he.” 

“ A gentleman to see you, miss,” said a tall, white- 
aproned individual, handing her a card on a silver 
waiter. 

“Me ! ” she exclaimed in surprise, hesitating a moment 
before taking the card ; but James, the waiter, nodded 
his head and murmured indistinctly something that in- 
duced her to take the card. 

“ How very kind ! ” she exclaimed. “ It is Mr. 
Duncan.” 

He had come, he said, to let her know he had tele- 
graphed to her brother that she had arrived. He thought 
she might feel more comfortable if she knew. The tears 
rose to her eyes as she tried to thank him for his thought- 
fulness; for anything done for John was more of a 
pleasure to her than if done for herself. It was like a 
little bit of sunshine, too, to see Mr. Duncan again, be- 
cause he had seen and known something of her home. 
Again her uncle watched her as she laughingly told of 
her feelings after Mr. Duncan left her. 

“ I suppose you and uncle will think me very foolish 
and childish,” she said, “ but you can hardly imagine the 
effect of so much bustle and confusion on me. I sup- 
pose any one who had been brought up as quietly as I 
would be startled at first ; but hardly so much as I.” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


63 


“ I should have thought of that,” said Mr. Duncan, 
“ and prepared you for it.” And then he told her that 
his mother would like very much to meet her, but was 
too great an invalid to call on her ; and he would like, 
with her aunt’s permission, to take her in a day or two 
to see her. Mrs. Carter was rather surprised that 
people of the Duncans’ wealth and position should have 
any desire to know this “ poor relation ” of her husband’s ; 
but when Mr. Duncan explained that his mother had 
known Helen’s grandmother, she supposed that was 
really the reason. It was a freak of the old lady’s, but 
the Duncans were people to be treated with some con- 
sideration, and she must see that Helen made the most of 
this opportunity ; for it was possible it might be of bene- 
fit to Adele, as the Duncans knew people she would be 
glad to have her own daughter know. 

“Was it Grandma Forbes your mother knew?” 
asked Helen. 

“ Yes. Possibly you have heard her speak of her old 
friend, Hattie Skinner.” 

“ Of course I have,” said Helen, with sparkling eyes. 
“ And she is your mother ! How glad I shall be to meet 
her ! Why, it was at her father’s house that my great- 
grandmother was married.” 

“Yes, and my mother has the wedding dress.” 

“ The same she wore to the ball the night she saved 
her lover’s life ! Oh, Mr. Duncan, I always thought that 
was one of the bravest and noblest acts ! I am so glad 
you told me this. I used to love to have grandma tell 


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me the story; and now it will be so pleasant to see 
something actually belonging to it.” 

Adele and her visitor, sitting in an adjoining room, 
whose portieres were but partially closed, could not help 
hearing much of this conversation, and Adele explained 
that Helen wa3 a cousin from the South ; that her fam- 
ily was one of those that had lost heavily during the war 
and had not yet recovered. Her father, she said, had 
offered to take this niece for the winter and give her the 
advantages of being in society for that time. 

“ I should like to meet her,” said Mr. Edmands, a tall, 
rather handsome man, and one on whom Adele was 
anxious to make an impression. 

“ You shall, as soon as I can make her presentable,” 
said Adele. “ I must put a little polish on her manners, 
as well as dress ; and then ” 

“ And then sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor,” 
said Mr. Edmands. “ Be indulgent enough, then, Miss 
Carter, to let me share that pleasure with you, by first 
knowing her as she is now.’” 

They had talked in a low tone, but Mr. Edmands’ voice 
had sounded so peculiarly when he made that last re- 
mark, that Adele had looked at him curiously before 
replying; but her delight that he should actually express 
such interest in any of her actions was so great that as 
soon as Mr. Duncan took his leave, she stepped to the 
other side of the portiere, Mr. Edmands following her. 
Very easily and gracefully Helen acknowledged the 
introduction, though the color mounted quickly to her 


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65 


cheeks ; for Mr. Edmands, in dress and manners, was so 
“ faultlessly elegant,” as Adele said, that it almost made 
her uncomfortable. 

u I did not like him half so well as Mr. Duncan,” she 
told Tom afterward, and Tom had laughed and told her 
that Mr. Duncan was old enough to be her father, while 
Mr. Edmands was only old enough to be her cousin ; and 
he thought Adele meant he should be, if she could 
manage it. 

Before leaving, that night, Mr. Edmands himself had 
again expressed a desire to watch the results of Adele's 
“ improvements.” 

Again she had looked at him curiously, for she could 
not quite understand his manner yet, but supposed it 
due to his Boston training ; for he had come from there 
to New York to follow out some scientific investigation, 
and she had not known him very long. But he was rich, 
and worth cultivating. 


E 


CHAPTER VIII. 


JOHN WOULD NOT WISH IT. 


HERE was so much of interest to see and do, that 



J- Helen found the days flying away very rapidly. 
She grew accustomed to much of the confusion and bus- 
tle, but Broadway was still a terror to her. It seemed 
that accidents must happen there. Most of her mornings 
were spent at the Art School ; and how she did enjoy it ! 
After luncheon she was free, as she expressed it to Tom 
and Bessie, who usually shared some of their spare time 
•with her. The three became fast friends, and were occa- 
sionally allowed to take little expeditions together, 
which was a delight to them all. 

“ I can’t see how you like to have those children al- 
ways hanging around you,” said Adele, petulantly, one 
day when she wanted Helen to do something for her, and 
Helen had excused herself on the ground that she had 
promised Tom and Bessie to go out with them. Adele 
herself was disappointed in Helen, for she did not find 
her quite so easily managed as she expected ; and she 
found her with opinions of her own that clashed with 
her3. Had Helen been other than she was, there would 
have been difficulty at once; but she had been trying for 
so long to control her quick temper, that she was able 
now to prevent a scene that would have caused serious 


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67 


trouble at the very beginning of ber visit. Adele bad 
visited ber on tbe morning after ber arrival, and inquired 
into tbe state of ber wardrobe in a very patronizing way. 
Helen bad taken it pleasantly, and said that what seemed 
a very full one to ber would probably seem very 
small to Adele herself. It did not take ber long to dis- 
play tbe contents of ber trunk, and it was with some 
pride that she showed tbe new things John had given 
ber. 

“ They will do, as far as they go,” said Adele ; “ but of 
course you know you must have more of them. What 
do you expect to do for dinner dresses, opera hats, ball 
dresses, etc? You must let me get you some clothes at 
once. I will see to it to-day. You can come with me 
and get an opera bonnet and some other things that you 
will need at once, for father intends taking seats for tbe 
opera some time this week.” 

“ Then tell him, please, not to get one for me. I would 
rather not go.” 

“ Rather not go ! Don’t you like music ? ” 

“Yes, very much.” 

“Then why don’t you want to go?” 

“ I do not think John would wish it.” 

“ Do you always do as John wishes ? ” asked Adele, 
with a sneer. 

“ I try to,” was the quiet reply. 

“ And does John disapprove of theatres, balls, and all 
such things ? ” 

“Yes.” 


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“ Then John’s a stupid old prig.” 

Helen’s eyes flashed and her hands were clenched with 
the effort she made to keep back the words that rose to 
her lips at this. When she did speak, her voice was 
choked as she said : 

“ You have never seen John, or you would not say such 
a thing. Please don’t ever do it again.” 

“Well, I don’t see what in the world you came here 
for, if you are not going out anywhere ! ” 

Helen would not allow herself to show just what her 
feelings were, but tried to let Adele see that while she 
could not accept just what was offered her, there was 
much she would gladly accept in the way of help and 
advice. She succeeded in so changing the aspect of 
affairs that when Adele left her, though she was disap- 
pointed in her, she could not help admiring her independ- 
ence, but could not quite understand how any girl could 
refuse fine clothes and not care for balls and theatres. 

There was a “ quiet little dinner ” given by Mrs. Carter 
that evening, and Helen was rather shy and confused at 
first by the elegance of everything about her, but she 
soon overcame the feeling and became very much inter- 
ested in her neighbor, a rather plain-looking man, but 
one who could make himself entertaining, “ if he chose.” 
Adele thought him intensely stupid, and was glad to get 
him as far away from her as possible. He himself said 
to Mr. Carter, at the end of the evening : 

“ It has been a great treat to me to be with your young 
niece to-night. Her freshness and originality are a great 


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69 


rest and relief after the intensely conventional manners 
to which one is accustomed. She tells me she is paying 
her first visit to a large city. Don’t keep her here long 
enough to spoil her. It would he a shame.'” 

“ Glad you admire her, Thompson,” said his host. 

“ I’m not the only one, I assure you. There have been 
several others who have been attracted by her perfectly 
natural, easy manners and her original way of looking 
at things. She has such a true, honest face that it can’t 
help being attractive.” 

And yet Helen was simply dressed, in the white flan- 
nel her brother had given her, and wore no ornaments 
save a very old pin and ring that had been her mother’s 
and grandmother’s before her. Adele had offered her 
any amount of jewelry, but, while thanking her and 
assuring her that she appreciated the offer, she declined 
because, she said, she was not in the habit of wearing it 
and would not feel like herself with it on. Adele was 
dressed in the height of the fashion, with bare neck and 
arms, and was in every way a contrast to Helen. 

“ Do you not wish, now, you had let me get you a fine 
dress to wear ? ” she asked. 

“ No. I could not wear anything of that kind,” said 
Helen, quietly. “ It would not suit me, and I would not 
look like myself at all.” 

“ Just wait awhile and you will change your mind and 
be glad enough to have them. You don’t suppose mother 
and I are going to let you appear everywhere in that 
one dress, do you? We have no intention of having you 


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talked of as our * poor relation.’ To-night I suppose you 
will want to take notes and won’t care to talk much, so 
it is just as well you should not attract much notice. You 
will soon grow accustomed to things, and when mother 
and I give our grand entertainment at Christmas, you 
will be ready enough to have a fine dress and other 
things ; and you will want to attend theatres and balls 
by that time, too.” 

To Adele’s surprise, Helen seemed at no loss for any- 
thing to say that evening, and there also seemed to be 
people who were glad to talk to her. She wondered what 
the girl found to say, and if any one was making fun of 
her. Once, hearing a subdued laugh from her nearest 
neighbor, she thought it might be so until she looked 
around and found that Helen, too, was laughing. 

“ How is the Society for the Improvement of Southern 
Girls coming on ? ” asked Mr. Edmands, at this moment. 

“ Slowly,” was the reply. “ The Southern girl refuses 
to be improved.” 

“ Self-satisfied ? ” 

“ All kinds of horrible things. ‘ Brother John ’ is an 
enemy to progress ; does not approve of theatres, balls, 
etc. His unfortunate influence must be overcome before 
much can be hoped for in the way of reform. It will 
take time.” 

“ Then it will make a more interesting study for 
me.” 

Once, during the evening, he had gone to Helen and 
spoken to her ; but she was glad when he left, for she 


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71 


could not understand him and could never be quite com- 
fortable with him. 

To John, she wrote a very bright account of this din- 
ner, speaking of some of the people she met as being so 
entertaining, because they had traveled and seen so many 
places and such interesting people. Others, she said, did 
not seem to know what to say or do, and there were some 
she could not like. They seemed rude, but she supposed 
it was only a manner she did not understand. No men- 
tion was made in any of her letters to John of the discus- 
sion she and Adele had had regarding dress, but the 
subject was brought up again in a very unexpected way. 
Entering the house one day at the same time as her 
uncle, she was asked if she would not like to see his 
smoking room. But once inside, he did not give her a 
chance to look about much before he asked : 

“ Why is it you come in from a walk with a bright, 
beautiful color, and Adele comes in so tired that she 
looks pale ? ” 

“ I don’t know, uncle, unless it is because I like the 
fresh air and it just can’t help doing me good.” 

“ I don’t wonder,” he said. Then he asked quickly : 
“ Is it true that you do not care to go to the opera ? ” 

“Yes, uncle, I would rather not just yet.” And then 
she thanked him heartily for having invited her to New 
York, but explained that she had never been to the 
theatre or opera and would like to think about it a little 
more before she did go. “ You see,” she said, “ when I 
was younger and wanted to go to something of the kind, 


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John told me I was not old enough, and he explained 
that there were many people who, for various reasons, 
thought it best to keep away from such things entirely. 
He asked me if I would not be willing to let him decide 
for me until I was old enough to decide for myself. That 
is why I have never been yet. Before I left home, John 
talked to me on the subject and told me the time had 
come for me to decide such things for myself ; but he 
advised me to look into the matter carefully before I did 
decide. He told me there were a great many good 
people who went to such places and felt there was no 
harm in it, and that I would probably meet some of them. 
He told me to examine the subject from all sides, and to 
see if I thought it injured one’s influence for good ; to 
make up my mind if I would just as soon go to a dancing 
Christian for comfort and advice as to one who lived a 
more quiet and simple life. I hope you will not feel, hurt, 
uncle, nor think I do not appreciate your kindness ; but 
until I have decided these points, I would like to keep 
on what I know to be the safe side.” 

“ How about clothes ? ” asked Mr. Carter, without 
commenting on what she had just said. “ Is that a New 
York costume you have on ? ” 

“This?” said Helen, in some surprise. “No, uncle. 
John gave me this.” 

“ Then it is one of the two ‘ decent ’ costumes Adele 
says you own, and she tells me you refuse to have any- 
thing more. How do you expect to go through a whole 
season with only these ? ” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


73 


“ You do not like them, uncle ?” said Helen, in a dis- 
tressed tone. 

“ I am speaking of you, my child. When you see the 
way other people dress that you will meet and the 
variety of costumes they have, I am afraid you will 
regret not having more. ,, 

“ But, uncle I am not accustomed to living and dress- 
ing like Adele, and it would not be suitable for me — 
but — if you think ” 

“ I think, my child,” said her uncle, quickly, “ that I 
like you much better as you are than if you dressed as 
my own daughter does, and I shall be glad if you can 
stick to your simple tastes as long as you are here ; but 
remember, I am perfectly able and willing to give you 
anything you need. It is likely, my child, you may 
want a variety, or find that what you have will not last. 
You need not hesitate to come to me at any time when 
you want anything. Do you understand ?” 

“ Yes, uncle, and I am so much obliged to you.” 

“Suppose I give you an allowance, as I do Adele.” 

“ I think I would rather not, please, if you do not 
mind.” 

“Why?” 

“ I might want to spend it when there was no necessity, 
and might grow too fond of having it.” 

“Fd like to hear Adele say that,” said Mr. Carter, 
sadly “ Well, tell me now ; if John was able to give 
you another dress, what would you like it to be ? ” 

“ I’d rather have a pretty dark red dress to wear here 


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at home in the evenings than anything else,” she said, 
simply. 

“ Then why not let me give you that ? I think I would 
like to see you in j ust such a dress, but I would prefer 
having you select it yourself. I like your taste.” 

“ Do you, uncle ? I am so glad.” And under those cir- 
cumstances, she found it a pleasure to accept what her 
uncle offered so willingly. 

That ended for the time being all discussion on the 
subject of dress or amusements ; and Helen soon began 
to feel quite at home among her new surroundings. She 
saw something interesting almost every day, but perhaps 
she enjoyed the picture galleries as much as anything 
else. The first of those she saw was at Mr. Duncan’s 
home. Mrs. Duncan, his mother, “a dear old lady, with 
such a happy face no one would ever imagine she had 
not walked for years,” as Helen described her in a letter 
to John, was charmed with “ the little Southern girl ; ” and 
when she found that she was fond of art, invited her to 
spend a whole afternoon with her when she could look 
at the pictures as long as she cared to. That afternoon 
was a pleasant memory to Helen and one that was de- 
scribed in most glowing terms to John. At its close, 
Mrs. Duncan told Helen that twice a month she gave a 
little afternoon tea, and her friends came to see her as 
she could not visit them ; and she further said that she 
would be glad to have her little Southern friend with her 
always at such times. 

“ Many of my friends,” she said, “ are artists of whom 


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75 


you have heard ; others are lovers of art ; and some are 
writers with whose work you are familiar. If you think 
you care to help me entertain at such times, my dear, I 
will write a note to your aunt and ask her permission ” 

“ I would love deariy to see the people,” was the reply, 
“ but I do not know anything about entertaining.” 

“ My son thinks differently and I can trust him,” said 
Mrs. Duncan, smiling. And so it became a settled thing; 
for she was very sure Mrs. Carter would not refuse her 
consent, and she knew that meeting the people who at- 
tended her little teas would be an education to Helen. 
In her note to Mrs. Carter, she invited both her and her 
daughter to attend the receptions, which pleased Helen ; 
but perhaps Mrs. Carter herself was most pleased, for 
she had long wanted to meet some of the people whom 
she knew visited Mrs. Duncan. She would have been 
better pleased, however, if Adele had been in Helen’s 
place just then. 


CHAPTER IX. 


“the old gentleman is a trump.” 

H ELEN surprised herself as well as others by the 
rapid progress she made in her art studies; 
and yet there was much she still wanted to accomplish 
before Christmas, which was fast approaching. There 
were sketches she was anxious to finish in time to send to 
John, dear John, whom she still longed, at times, so 
eagerly to see, and who, she knew, would like to see her. 
For his sake, as well as her own, she was glad she was 
improving so rapidly in her work. He would be so 
pleased, and she began to feel that she might, in time, 
be able really to put her talent to some practical use. 
She had such happy visions of what she would do when 
that time came, and how she would surprise John. Such 
wonderful things could be done then, and they would be 
so happy together ! His letters now were full of love, and 
were bright, happy ones; but she knew he missed her, 
particularly on Sunday, for then they were together more 
than at any other time. She was surprised to see how 
little church-going was done by her uncle’s family. The 
first Sunday she spent with them was a rainy one, and 
Mrs. Carter did not go to church because of a headache. 
Mr. Carter never went, she was told, and Adele, never in 
the rain. Tom did not care for it, but rather than have 
7G 


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77 


Helen go alone, would accompany her. She asked that 
Bessie might be allowed to go too, but it was of no use ; 
so she and Tom went alone. On their way home, Helen 
asked Tom earnestly never to take her there again. 

“ I don’t feel as though I had really and truly been to 
church,” she said. . 

“ Why not ? That’s the one mother and Adele attend, 
and they think it’s tip-top.” 

“ I suppose the way a person is brought up makes 
some difference. You see, Tom, I’ve been brought up 
differently from them, and I like to go where I can sing, 
and where other people sing, and where the minister is 
in earnest in everything he says and gives you something 
to think about all the week. Don’t you have such 
churches here ? ” 

“ Never was in one.” 

When she reached home, Helen intended going to her 
aunt and trying to do something to relieve her headache, 
but Tom told her that his mother never allowed any one to 
go near her at such times, so she did not attempt it ; but 
to her surprise, found after luncheon that her aunt was 
up and in the parlor entertaining company. Before she 
had been there long, she discovered that many Sundays 
were spent in the same way, at home, by her aunt and 
cousin. Some weeks had been more than usually gay 
ones, when many hours that should have been spent in 
sleep were devoted to the amusements of life. Some of 
that lost sleep was made up Sunday mornings. 

<• We always have company Sunday afternoon,” ex- 


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plained Adele, “and I would not be fie to entertain any 
one after a whole week of gayety, if I did not have some 
rest.” 

On other occasions she went to church, but her con- 
versation at luncheon was almost entirely confined to a 
description of costumes she had seen and the gossip she 
had heard on her way home. Helen had made up her 
mind after the first Sunday to find a church somewhere 
that was more like the one at home, and had interviewed 
her uncle on the subject, thinking he would understand 
better than any one else what she wanted, because he 
had gone to the old church when a boy. He promised to 
see what he could find for her, and the next Sunday told 
her he would go with her and they could decide together 
whether the church he had selected was what she wanted. 
Mrs. Carter and Adele expressed the greatest surprise at 
the idea of his going to church and not going with them, 
but he explained that Helen had come there on his invi- 
tation, and that he intended she should have everything 
done that could be done to make her stay a pleasant 
one. 

“ I did not know,” he said, “ when I sent for her, that 
she was so like, in character and disposition, my mother, 
one of the best women who ever lived. Now that I 
find her so, I mean that she shall be kept so, if possible.” 

It was a common thing after that for Helen and her 
uncle to go to church together morning and nieht, 
sometimes to one place and sometimes to another, for 
they found there were many churches, after all, that 


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79 


came under the head of those they liked ; but there was 
one they decided ou at last as suiting them better than 
the others, and to the surprise of the family, Mr. Carter 
went there alone one night when Helen was afraid to 
venture out on account of a sore throat. He explained 
that the minister, a man whom he admired in every 
sense of the word, was preaching a series of sermons at 
night and that he wanted particularly to hear that one. 
Bessie sometimes accompanied her father and cousin, but 
Tom could not be persuaded to do so. 

“ No ; I won’t go with the governor,” he would say, 
and no persuasion on the part of Helen could make him ; 
but she devoted her Sunday afternoons to the two chil- 
dren. She found they had been in the habit of loung- 
ing around with nothing particular to do, until Tom had 
conceived the idea of introducing some “ blood and 
thunder ” literature into the house, and reading scenes 
from it to Bessie. Very quietly and gently Helen 
changed all this, and tried to interest them in other 
things, succeeding so well that they soon enjoyed the 
change ; for she gave them something to do and think of 
through the week, and every week it was a little dif- 
ferent. 

*' It is by watching and caring for the days and hours 
as they come, that we make the past a thing to be re- 
gretted or not,” she would say. She copied for them the 
motto John had given her and hung it in their sitting 
room. 

“ Oh, I say,” said Tom, when he saw it, “ a fellow can’t 


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live up to that thing. You don’t expect me to do a worthy 
act every day and Sunday too, do you ? ” 

“ You can do it, if you will,” said Helen ; “ for there 
is One who will help you.” 

“ I don’t believe you do it, yourself,” said Tom. 

“No, I don’t; but I am trying hard to do better, 
and it would help me very much if you would try 
too.” 

“ I don’t see how.” 

“ Try it and find out.” 

By assuring them that they could help each other and 
help her to make life more what it should be, she inter- 
ested them in things they had not cared for before, and 
was herself surprised to see the change in Tom. His 
manners became much more gentlemanly, and gradually, 
but slowly, he was dropping slang phrases. One day, a 
few days before Christmas, he went to Helen, excitedly, 
and told her that his father had made arrangements to 
send him to boarding school after the holidays. 

“I’ll just go to the bad, right off, if he does that,” he 
said. “ You must go to him and talk him out of it, 
Helen. He will do anything you ask him, and I am 
sure if I go there I’ll run away or do something dread- 
ful. You must talk to him at once.” 

“ No, Tom, you are the one to do that.” 

“I! There would be a row then, for certain. You 
don’t know father.” 

“ I know him well enough to know that if you would 
once go to him in the right way and talk earnestly and 


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81 


seriously about yourself, that you would find things dif- 
ferent from what you think.” 

“ Can’t go to him in the right way, then. You will 
have to make up your mind to do it for me.” 

“No, Tom, I can’t do that for you. It would only be 
a sort of half-way arrangement, and would not have an 
effect that would be quite satisfactory. Think the matter 
quietly and seriously over until to-morrow, and then we 
will talk of it again.” 

When to-morrow came, Helen found that he had 
thought seriously of it, but could not quite make up his 
mind to take the final step. “You may be right,” he 
said, “ and it might be better if I would talk to him 
once, but I just can’t do it.” 

“Yes, you can, Tom. Suppose you make up your 
mind to go to him just now, without any further waiting. 
You know it’s the lost opportunities of the present that 
make the regrets of the future.” 

“Helen, I know just as well that if I go to him now, 
I will say or do something I will be sorry for afterward.” 

“ I don’t think so, Tom ; but if you do find yourself 
about to say anything you know you should not, just 
stop and pray a little silent prayer. Don’t let this 
opportunity go by. It will only be harder another 
time.” 

“Well, here goes, but if it’s all wrong when I come 
back, you’ll think it’s my fault, of course. You’ll be 
here when I come back ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

F 


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“All right; I won’t be a coward. I’ll beard the lion 
in his den, and at once.” 

Long and patiently Helen waited for him, busying 
herself about some little things she had arranged to send 
home for Christmas presents ; for a part of the money she 
found in the purse so mysteriously given her, had been 
at once set aside for that purpose. There were so many 
things she wanted for them, and fifty dollars, which was 
what she found in the purse, would get some of them, 
and leave her enough besides to put away in case any- 
thing should happen so that she would need more than 
John had given her. It seemed to her she had never en- 
joyed anything so much as arranging for these little gifts 
to send home, something for every one, from the book 
she knew John wanted on architectural drawing, to the 
pretty white aprons for Cassy and Mammy Tot. She 
had been making something besides for John’s room, 
and was at work on it now, while waiting for Tom ; for 
it must be done in time to send with the other things. 
There was something yet to be finished for Maud ; a 
drawing she had done for her of a queer character whu 
came to the art class to be sketched. Tom was gone so 
long that Helen began to fear there had been trouble 
after all, but when he did come, he said excitedly : 

“ I say, Helen, the old gentleman is a trump. I’m not 
to go away, after all. Hurrah! And do you know, he 
says if I have really and earnestly made up my mind 
that I would like to study medicine, he’s willing to look 
into the matter when the time comes. Hurrah ! Three 


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83 


cheers for Helen Carter. She understood father better 
than I did.” 

“ Hurrah ! Ha, ha, ha, ha ! Whew ! ” cried Polly, 
moving her body rapidly up and down, as though very 
much excited over the news. 


CHAPTER X. 


A LETTER TO AUNT HAN. 


BOUT this time “ Auut Han ” received a letter the 



reading of which was followed by some very 
curious actions on her part. Often in the past, when 
things had troubled Helen that she did not care to men- 
tion to John, she had gone to Aunt Han and opened 
her heart. She never quite understood how it was that, 
in spite of harsh, almost unfeeling words, she knew that 
her aunt understood and in her heart felt for her. She 
knew that in her own peculiar way her aunt loved her ; 
and ever since John had told her of her early life, she 
had felt that she could not do too much to make her 
forget it. He had told her of her great beauty, and of 
her love for one who had acted toward her in such a 
way as to cause her whole character to change. She had 
lost faith in others, and seemed to delight in covering up 
all the good she did in the world, so that people might 
say and think hard things of her. It was partly to show 
her love for her that Helen talked as she did. It was 
partly now to let her aunt feel that she had not 
changed and that she still looked to her as she had done 
in the old life, that she had written the letter that so 
strangely affected Aunt Han. It read as follows : 


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85 


“Dear, dear Aunt Han: If I only had wings, I would 
fly to you at this very moment and talk to you, as I used to do, 
of things I would not mention to John. You could not help me, 
auntie, except by letting me talk to you. That always helps me. 
John might try to do what he ought not to think of, so you must 
not let him see this. I told you how kind uncle has been in 
offering me an allowance, or anything I want in the way of 
clothes. I know it seems odd to my aunt and Adele, who have 
so many things, to see any one with so few; and I think it 
annoys them, at times, to see me ‘always in the same rig/ as 
Adele says. They are to give a very elegant reception, just after 
Christmas, and are busy about new dresses. They have said de- 
cidedly that I must have something new, and I suppose it would 
be unkind and ungrateful in me to refuse ; but everything they 
suggest is so different from what I have been accustomed to, that 
I should not feel like myself in it. They want me to dress as 
Adele and her friends do ; but I can’t, and I am sure John would 
not want me to. If they would only let me go myself and select 
what I would like, I think I might please them and still feel 
that I remain Helen Carter. They are afraid to trust me to do 
that, and so as yet we have not found anything that quite suits 
all of us ; but we will in time, perhaps. If I would go to uncle 
and speak to him, I am sure he would give me the money and 
let me select a dress for myself, and he has been kind enough to 
say he likes my taste ; but I am afraid that would hurt the feelings 
of my aunt and Adele. 

“But I will not bother you about that any more. It has just 
done me a little good to mention it. Now I must tell you more 
than I did, in my last letter, of Mrs. Duncan. I had not seen 
my great-grandmother’s dress then, but I have now, and it is so 
very handsome. I wish you could see it. It is a plain, cream- 
colored satin petticoat, with a heavily brocaded over-dress and 
funny little short-waisted body, and sleeves like great barrels. It 
seemed almost like some holy thing when I touched it and 
thought of the noble deeds that had been done in it. Mrs. Duncan 
herself is just the kind of a person I should think would do as 
grandmother did, if necessary. She has some of the quaintest 
and daintiest things that belonged to her own mother and grand- 
mother, and she tells me the most delightful things about the 


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time when she and grandmother were girls together. I wish you 
could meet her. 

“ Does John go to see you often, auntie ? I am sure he does, 
though; and I wish I could be with him sometimes. Does he 
miss me very, very much, auntie? I wish there was something 
I could do to help him. I told you about the money that good 
fairy godmother sent me. Do you know, I want so much to use 
it for a new, handsome suit of clothes and some books for John. 
It did not seem right for him to give me so much and have so 
little for himself; but I just knew John would not like it, really ; 
and besides, I thought it might be best to put some of it away 
in case of accident, so that I would not have to send to him for 
anything more. It does make me feel easier to have it. So I 
have only used part of it for Christmas presents for the home 
people, and the rest is tucked away for any emergency. 

“ Adele expects a friend to visit her during the holidays. She 
is from Boston, I think. I have met a young gentleman from 
there who is living here now, a Mr. Edmands ” 

Aunt Han hastily dropped the letter when she had 
read so far, and putting her spectacles off with a jerk, went 
to the door and called Cassy in a sharp, commanding 
voice. Only once before in the last twenty years had 
Cassy been told, as she was now, as she afterwards ex- 
pressed it, “ ter tote out de har-kivered trunk. I knowed 
zac’ly what’s gwine on, dat she gwine way som’ers, but 
I’s jes’ ter keep my mouf shet an’ say nuffin’ ter no one. 
Dem’s one o’ de times when yer ain’t gwine git nuffin’ 
outen ’er ef yer talks from de crack o’ day twill day 
agin.’ Yer mout ez well ’tempt ter git water outen de 
rock.” 


CHAPTER XL 


AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. 

** T SAY, Helen,” said Tom excitedly, one day when 

-L he met her on the stairs, “there’s the queerest 
kind of an old codger asking for you down below. Do 
see what’s wanted before mother or Adele come aJong, 
or there'll be the deuce to pay, of some kind.” 

“ What do you mean, Tom ? ” she asked. But before he 
could say anything more, James came to her and told her 
there was some one down stairs who wanted to see her, 
but who would give no name. 

She went down wondering who it could be. She 
looked in the parlor, but there was no one there, and 
then went across the hall to a small reception room. In 
another moment, she had thrown her arms about her 
visitor, and was saying, excitedly : 

“Oh, Aunt Han, Aunt Han, how did you get here? ” 

“ There, child, you know I do not like such demonstra- 
tions. You will mash my best bonnet that I've worn for 
ten years.” 

“ I can’t help it, auntie. I am so glad to see you.” 

“ Then show it in some other way.” 

“Won’t you come up in my room and take your 
things off, when we can have a good long talk ; I have 
so many things to say to you. I thought you never went 

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away from home, Aunt Han. Do tell me what message 
John sent me, please.” 

“ What business was it of John Carter’s, I’d like to 
know, my coming away ? I could not be burdened with 
messages.” 

“ You mean that John did not know you were com- 
ing ? ” asked Helen, in some surprise ; and then to her 
further surprise she was informed that her aunt had 
arrived the day before, and that she had come now for 
her to go out with her. 

“You can’t expect me, after not having been here for 
fifteen years, to know my way about, and who should I 
call on to go with me, if not my very own niece? ” 

“ Of course you should, and I shall be so glad to go 
with you. Where shall we go, and what would you like 
to see ? ” 

Without answering, she asked abruptly : 

“ Who was that boy I met as I came in ? ” 

“ Tom, I guess, Aunt Han.” 

“ One of Howard Carter’s children ? Well, if they 
are all like that, I am sorry for him.” 

“ I hope he was not rude in any way, auntie,” said 
Helen, remembering what Tom had said to her before 
she came down. 

“ Rude ! Rude ! When I was young, I was taught it 
was the height of rudeness to stare at people as though 
they were wild animals.” And in a dissatisfied tone, she 
told Helen to hurry and put on her things and not keep 
her waiting there anv longer. 


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89 


Helen stopped on her way to speak to Tom. 

“ She is my aunt,” she said simply, “ and I am sorry 
you spoke as you did.” 

“ Your your aunt !” exclaimed Tom. 

“ Yes ; my great-aunt, and she has come all the way 
from my own home.” 

“Well, she is kind of queer looking; but if she is 
your aunt, I am sorry I said it ; but, I say,” he added, 
with a confidential shake of the head, “I’d try to man- 
age it so mother and Adele should not see her here.” 

“Why, Tom?” asked Helen, in some surprise. 

“ Because because, they might say or do some- 

thing they would be sorry for, as I did.” 

Helen wondered, while she dressed herself, why Tom 
should have said that. Did they not have people as old 
as her aunt in New York ? Did not people live so long 
there? Was that the reason ? No, for Mrs. Duncan was 
as old ; but then, she and Aunt Han were so very dif- 
ferent. Were all the others different in the same way ? 

To her surprise, her aunt expressed a wish to see some 
of the large stores, the ones where her aunt and Adele 
bought their fine clothes. 

“ I might as well see the fine things that other people 
wear, now I am here,” she said. And Helen, wondering 
somewhat at her taste, when there were so many other 
things to see, but anxious to please her, took her into 
the crowded thoroughfares, where they jostled against 
fashionable women enveloped in velvets and furs. Catch- 
ing Helen by the arm, when she was about to enter one 


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of New York’s largest establishments, and drawing her 
into a quiet corner, she said : 

“That place is full of pickpockets. I know it is. 
Can’t you hide this somewhere ? ” And she thrust into 
her hand a well-filled purse. “ It’s been burning a hole in 
my pocket ever since I started from home. Goodness, 
child,” she said, as Helen looked at her, wonderingly, 
“ You don’t suppose all that belongs to me ! When have 
I ever had so much money as that since the surrender ? 
Then, hurry and buy your dress before you lose it.” 

Helen was bewildered. Where did the money come 
from, and what did it all mean? 

“ Come,” said the old lady, “ I’m getting tired ; but 
I am bound to see that dress bought before I leave you. 
Your aunt may get ahead of you.” 

“Where did the money come from?” asked Helen. 

“ It was honestly made. That is all that it is neces- 
sary for you to know. No; John had nothing to do with 
it,” she said, sharply. 

“ Hid it come from the same place as the other ? ” 
asked Helen. 

“ Maybe so, and maybe not ” 

That was all Helen could find out, and she was obliged 
to be content. It was a pleasure, though, to feel that she 
could select her own dress, and she took so much interest 
in doing it that she did not notice the curious looks 
that were thrown on her companion, as they stood 
together, turning over handsome silks. It was not often 
that an old lady of her “ get-up ” was seen at that coun- 


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91 


ter. After selecting a cream-colored surah, as the dress 
that would at the same time suit her aunt and herself, 
Helen looked for a few little things to go with it ; and 
then her aunt said, thoughtfully, and as though half to 
herself : 

“Seeing so much makes me feel like getting something 
for myself. Seems as though I ought to have something 
from New York, if I only had the money.’’ 

“ What would you get, if you could, auntie ? ” asked 
Helen. 

“ I suppose I might buy myself a new cap, child. 
Yes ; I suppose the style has changed some since I was 
here before, and I don’t know but I would like a new 
one. But, there isn’t any use in wishing for what you 
can’t have, you know.” 

“ Suppose you could have this, though,” said Helen, 
excitedly. “ Oh, auntie, I know where Mrs. Duncan gets 
hers, and she does have the loveliest ones I ever saw. 
Come, let’s go, and see what we can find.” 

“No; seeing is desiring. Haven’t you found that out, 
child ? ” 

Helen insisted, however, and persuaded her aunt that 
there was no reason why she should not let her buy a cap 
for her. 

“ You know, auntie, I would not be happy to spend 
all this money on myself, and would so love to do that 
for you.” 

“ Well, as long as it’s not my own money that has to 
pay for it, I shall get a pretty fine one. For once, since 


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the surrender, I shan’t stop to think of the cost.” Nor 
did she ; and though it took what Aunt Han called “ a 
pretty stiff” sum to pay for it, it gave Helen pleasure to 
think she had been able to do it. 

“ Don’t you think you would have done better to put 
that money in some fandangles for yourself? ” asked the 
old lady. “ I don’t see you with a lot of furry stuff round 
your neck and hands like other girls. It looks so com- 
fortable and nice.” 

“ They can afford it, auntie, and you know I can’t.” 

“They can, can they? Well, you said your uncle 
offered you an allowance. Why didn’t you take it and 
dress like others, child, when you had a chance ? ” 

“ Because I do not want to pretend to be what I am 
not ; and I don’t think John would like it, either.” 

They had been standing apart talking while the cap 
was being done up, for Aunt Han insisted on taking it 
with her. As they were leaving the store, Helen, in 
turning her head, saw Adele coming toward them. 

“Wait a moment, auntie,” she said, laying a hand on 
her arm. “ Here comes my cousin, and I would like to 
introduce you to her.” 

Adele had seen Helen and her action, and with a rude 
stare at her companion, had looked Helen herself 
squarely in the face, and, without a sign of recognition, 
had passed on, with her head proudly held up in the air. 
Mr. Edmands, walking directly behind her, had seen 
the whole thing, and he saw, too, the red color mount to 
Helen’s face, and her eyes flash as she moved a step 


THE SOUTHEEN COUSIN. 


93 


closer to her companion. A moment later she was 
acknowledging his bow ; but instead of the bright look 
on her face that he was accustomed to see, there was a 
troubled one. 

“Where is your cousin ?” asked Aunt Han, impa- 
tiently. 

“She , she has gone on. She did not stop,” said 

Helen, confusedly. 

“ Was she the girl in green, who stared so? ” 

“ Don’t think hard of her for that,” said Helen, trying 
not to show what she felt herself. 

“ She would not have done it, child, if you had been 
with some one in silks and velvets.” 

Helen knew that her aunt looked a little odd in her 
big black bonnet and wide, old-fashioned figured veil ; 
but she had no idea that clothes actually counted for so 
much with any one, and it gave her a feeling of mortifi- 
cation to think that Adele, her own cousin, should be- 
have as she had done. 

“ Who spoke to you after she passed ? ” asked her 
aunt. 

“ Mr. Edmands.” 

“ Why in the world are we standing here to be stared 
at ? ” said Aunt Han, with more than usual sharpness. 
“It is time I was getting something to eat. You can tell 
Howard Carter from me that his children’s manners do 
him credit. How you go your way, and I’ll go mine.” 

“ But, Aunt Han began Helen. 

“ There, child, I’ve had enough of you now. Hever 


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mind where I’m staying. I’m not going to have you run- 
ning in on me at all hours. When I want you, I’ll send 
for you.” 

“ You'll come to see me, then. I have not heard half 

I want to about John and Maud. You’ll ” Here 

she remembered how both Tom and Adele had acted, and 
what Tom had said, and she hesitated. 

“ I am not going to enter the doors of Howard Carter’s 
house again. You may enjoy being there, but I don’t.” 
And before Helen could find out anything more, or knew 
if she was to see her aunt again, she had gone. 


CHAPTER XII. 


A LOSS OF TEMPER. 

** TTTHERE in the world did you pick up that queer- 
» » looking creature you were with this morning ?” 
asked Adele, just before luncheon, having hunted Helen 
up for the purpose of interviewing her on the subject, 

“ That was my aunt,” said Helen, looking her steadily 
in the eyes. 

“ Your aunt ! ” exclaimed Adele, with a look of 
horror. 

“ Yes ; she arrived yesterday, and came this morning 
to ” 

“ Came here, to this house ! Who let her in ? ” 

“ Be quiet, Adele,” said Tom, who was present. “ You 
have no right to speak so to Helen of her aunt.” 

“ I have a right ; for I have no intention of having my 
friends meet such odd-looking characters here. She 
looked as though she might have been alive when Noah 
came out of the ark, judging by her clothes.” 

Helen’s temper here got the better of her, and, with 
flashing eyes, she said, quickly : 

“ There is no danger of your ever entertaining an 
angel unawares. Aunt Han’s clothes may be old- 
fashioned, but she has done more good in this world 
than you are ever likely to do.” 


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96 


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“ That’s all bosh,” said Adele. “ Do you know that 
Mr. Edmands was right behind me, when I met you ? I 
think he must have been rather horrified ; for I am sure 
he meant to join me.” 

“I do know that he was behind you,” said Helen, 
“ and that he behaved more like a gentleman than you 
did like a lady.” 

“ Possibly he did not know that creature was with you. 
I hope and trust he did not.” 

“ But he did, and I — — ” began Helen, when Bessie 
came into the room, and she stopped at once, feeling 
that a discussion of this kind must not be carried on 
before her. At the same time she realized how far she 
herself had gone, and, escaping quickly to her own room, 
she threw herself on the bed, and burst into a flood of 
tears. At luncheon she was missing, and when Mr. Carter 
inquired for her, Tom at once excused her, but for some 
reason the meal was not so pleasant as usual. Was it 
entirely because the bright, happy face was absent? Mr. 
Carter thought so, for he had grown very fond of seeing 
it at his table, and of hearing the pleasant voice. Why 
was his own daughter so different? he wondered. He was 
unusually quiet, until a note was handed his wife, and he 
had watched her as she read it. 

“Well?” he asked, as he saw a puzzled look on her 
face. 

“I don’t quite understand,” she said. “It is from 
Mrs. Duncan, and it is the second I have had to-day. 
The first asked if I would allow Helen to dine with her 


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97 


this evening. I had already formed plans for her, and 
begged that she would excuse her. Now, here comes 
another, saying, if it is possible, will I reconsider the 
matter, with the information that Helen’s aunt is with 
her, and she would like to give her a little surprise and 
pleasure, at the same time. I did not know she had an 
aunt here. I don’t quite understand it.” 

Mr. Carter caught the look that passed between Tom 
and Adele, and seeing that they knew something more than 
his wife did, questioned them so closely and severely that 
he learned the whole story of Aunt Han’s arrival, and 
of the meeting on the street. 

“ I can't imagine the elegant Mrs. Duncan entertain- 
ing such a guy,” said Adele. “It must be some one 
else.” 

“Some day I trust you will learn to think less of 
clothes and more of soul,” said her father, in a tone she 
could not quite understand. “ Mrs. Duncan can recog- 
nize true worth beneath a rough exterior. I shall take 
your mother to call on the * guy ’ to-night, and when she 
comes here to stay, as I certainly hope she will, she shall 
be treated with as much respect as though she were 
clothed in velvet and covered with diamonds.” 

“ Father ! ” exclaimed Adele, who had been utterly 
dismayed by his remark. “ You do not mean to have 
that person here. You do not know ; you have not seen 
her.” 

“ I do know, for I have seen her,” he said, eying his 
daughter sharply. “I have seen her take the bread 

G 


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from her own mouth, and give it to another who was 
starving, taking him also into her house, and nursing 
him from death to life. Of her it will be said : ‘ I was 
sick, and in prison, and ye visited me ! ’ That prisoner 
was your father, Adele. He was dying in a strange land, 
and she found him and ministered to him, when he had 
helped to reduce her from wealth to poverty. It was one 
of those war incidents of which the country was full at 
one time, but of which little was known at the time. She 
was a perfect stranger to me then, for she did not move 
to North Carolina till after the war, when her home in 
Georgia was broken up. She is the woman at whom my 
children have sneered to-day, and yet there, was a time 
when her beauty was far-famed, and brought scores of 
suitors to her feet. You laugh at her appearance now, 
but it was her beauty once that caused her the greatest 
trouble of her life. Your friend, Mr. Edmands, you say, 
saw her. Did he, too, ‘ pass by on the other side ’ ? If 
so, he deserves the severest censure ; for it was one of his 
name who blighted her life, causing her to say, when he 
left her, in a fit of jealousy that well-nigh turned his 
brain, that no man should ever again call her beautiful. 
She is the woman you call a ‘guy/ I am going to 
Helen now, and I trust you will have the good sense to 
apologize yourself immediately.” 

Adele had never heard her father speak in this way 
before, and when he had left the room, she looked at 
her mother in a bewildered way. 

“ You had better do as your father suggests,” said her 


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99 


mother “ and make the best of it now. If Mrs. Duncan 
entertains her, surely we can.” 

“ But she won’t meet any one there, mother, and there 
is no knowing whom she might meet here.” 

“ I cannot help it,” said Mrs. Carter. “ When your 
father makes up his mind in that way, you know there is 
no use in arguing. I wish it had happened any day but 
to-day, for I did want Helen to-night.” 

Mrs. Carter had found her niece useful to her in many 
ways, and she did not like to have her away from her 
when she particularly wanted her. There were a thou- 
sand and one little things that she found Helen could do 
for her about the house, about her own person when she 
was going out at night, and in the way of entertaining, 
that were particularly acceptable. A few touches of hers 
to the flowers on the dinner table, or about the house, 
would give them an easy, natural look, which they did 
not have before. The little country girl from the 
South could give them a careless look that was very 
fascinating. Then, too, there were certain people who 
came to the house whom Mrs. Carter could only entertain 
with difficulty. They were not her “ style,” but Helen 
seemed to find no trouble in interesting them, and it was 
a relief to Mrs. Carter to have her present when they were. 
She saw, too, that Helen attracted attention where she 
went by the very simplicity and unconsciousness of her 
manners, and she rather enjoyed taking her about, and 
felt that nothing must be done to frighten her, or send 
her home before the season was over. 


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“ Perhaps I had better go to Helen/’ she said, when 
her husband had been gone some time. “ I think possi- 
bly I might make her understand your mistake better 
than your father or you.” 

“ No ; I will go myself/’ said Adele, a little impa- 
tiently. “ I am the culprit, if there is one, and father 
will not be satisfied until I do, though what I am to say 
I don’t know ; for all I did say was true, and she got 
in a towering rage herself. Tom thinks her pretty near 
perfection, but that don’t look much like it.” 

“ If it had been herself you had spoken of and treated 
so, she would not have said what she did,” said Tom ; 
“ but she could not stand it for another, and I don’t blame 
her, either. She is as true as steel, and will stand by a 
friend to the bitter end. I’m ashamed of myself for 
what I said, and I wish I’d cut my tongue out first, for 
she is just the kind of girl a fellow ought to be proud to 
stand up for.” 

When Mr. Carter reached Helen’s room, he found her 
just coming out. Her eyes showed that she had been 
crying, but she was perfectly composed, as she said : 

“Oh, uncle, I was just going to Adele to tell her how 
sorry I am. I lost my temper, and spoke to her, a little 
while ago, as I should not have done.” 

Mr. Carter drew her back in the room, and told her 
it was Adele who should come to her. 

“No, uncle,” said Helen. “I had no right to lose my 
temper as I did. The trouble is I do not understand some 
things just as Adele looks at them ; but I had no right 


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101 


to speak as I did, and I shall not be satisfied until I can 
beg Adele’s pardon. Auntie did look odd to her, I sup- 
pose, and ” 

Here Mr. Carter stopped her, and told her things of 
her aunt she did not know herself. 

“ I have always known,” she said, “ that auntie did 
not let her left hand know what was done by her right, 
and it is so pleasant to have you tell me this, and to 
know that you appreciate her too.” 

There was an earnest talk for some time, and then 
Helen insisted upon going to Adele and apologizing 
for the words she had used. There were two apologies, 
but Helen’s was the more sincere ; and before she w r ent to 
Mrs. Duncan’s she took into her cousin’s room a flower 
she had been guarding and tending carefully for some 
time. Adele had admired it; and, though she knew she 
should miss it, she was glad to prove to Adele that she 
had none but kind feelings, and that the unfortunate 
events of that day were to be as though they had never 
been, so far as she was concerned. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


SMALL BEGINNINGS. 

I T was a great surprise to Helen to find her aunt at 
Mrs. Duncan’s, and to be told that they had known 
each other as girls. 

“ How very pretty you look ! ” she said, with sparkling 
eyes. “ I wish John could see you to-night. Why, auntie, 
I never knew before how handsome you were.” 

She did look handsome, wearing the new cap and a 
black silk dress, which, though old-fashioned in its make, 
was so relieved by delicate lace at the throat and wrists, 
as to give her a quaint, picturesque appearance. 

“ Pretty is as pretty does, child,” said the old lady. 
“ Never wish to be beautiful, but rather thank God you 
were not born so.” 

She spoke sharply, and Helen, not knowing the sorrow 
her own beauty had caused her, understood it only as 
her usual manner, and changed the subject. If she had 
been surprised to see her aunt, she was still more sur- 
prised, after dinner, when Mr. and Mrs. Carter came to 
call on her, followed in a little while by Mr. Edmands. 
It pleased her very much to have them come; and, when 
Mrs. Carter invited Aunt Han to come at once to their 
house and stay, she felt as though she liked them both 
better than she had done before. What had brought 
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103 


Mr. Edmands she did not know ; but she felt that she liked 
him, too, better than she had done. It was a very happy 
time for her, even though her aunt took occasion con- 
stantly to say sharp things to her aside. She did not 
mind them now, and was really disappointed when she 
found that she was to leave on the following day. 

“Why would you have me stay here longer?’’ she 
asked. “ I came on business ; my business is done, and 
now I must get back where I can live decently, without 
being stared at and insulted ; at Christmas time, too ! I 
can’t stay here and see money wasted on foolishness. I 
have none to spend in that way. It’s surely ruining the 
country, child. No ; I would never have come here and 
spent the savings I had put away, if it hadn’t been to 
look after a little bit of money that’s been worrying me. 
It’s all gone, and I go back poorer than I came.” 

“You you don’t really need anything?” asked 

Helen, anxiously. She had always believed that her aunt 
had enough to make her comfortable, by strict economy, 
but no more. Now, she was fearful lest this loss of 
which she spoke might cause her to suffer. 

“ That depends on what you call need. I reckon I won’t 
actually starve just yet, if I can once get home. If I find 
I need a few dollars — five or ten — to straighten out 
things when I get back, I suppose John will not let me 
suffer for want of them.” 

“ Auntie,” said Helen, in a half-frightened tone, “ let 
me give you the money. Don’t go to John, please ; let 
me do it.” 


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“ And where will you get it, pray ? ” 

“ Why, did you not hand me a whole purse-full of it? ” 

“ And how will you get the rest of your fine fixings 
without it ? ” 

“I don’t want any fine fixings at all while you need 
anything.” 

“ Then I’ll know where to come.” 

“ Let me give it to you now, please.” 

“ And bother myself with it all the way home for fear 
I’ll lose it.” 

“ You’ll promise me not to go to John for it ? ” 

“Unless you send it before I want it. Just lay aside 
ten dollars for a couple of weeks, but I won’t be bothered 
with it till I want it. If you do send it, I’ll go to John 
for the same amount. Do you understand ? ” 

“Yes, but I wish you would just let me give it to you 
now.” 

“ I tell you I won’t be bothered with it, and that 
settles it. If I don’t send for it in two weeks, you can 
buy some kind of jim-cracks with it. If you think you 
have anything to spare now, you can let me have a 
dollar bill till I can pay you, to get my meals going 
home.” 

Gladly did Helen give her the money, and just as 
gladly did she give the same amount the following day 
to her uncle, to be used for the family of one of his em- 
ployees. At luncheon he had spoken of having gone to 
see the man, who had been injured and sent to the hos- 
pital. He told a sorrowful tale of a family of young 


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105 


children, who just at Christmas time were left without 
his support. 

“ Let me go to see the children ? ” Helen asked when 
they rose from the table, and she thought herself alone 
with her uncle. 

“Not to-day. I am going myself, and perhaps will 
take you another time. It is in a very rough part of the 
city, and I think I had better go alone first.” 

“Then take this please, and use it as you think 
best,” she said, handing him a dollar. He looked at her 
a moment, and then took the money without a word. 

“I say ! ” said Tom. “ I don’t think you ought to have 
given all that.” 

“ Oh, Tom, I didn’t know you were here ! ” 

“But I am, and I saw what you did just now. It’s 
more than Adele would do, and she is a thousand times 
better able to do it than you.” 

“ Don’t talk in that way, Tom. You have no right to 
speak so of Adele. You don’t know what she would do.” 

“ Yes I do ; for I know how she growls over the ten 
cents she puts in the collection every Sunday. I suppose 
you would do something for another poor family, if you 
knew of them.” 

“ Tom,” said Helen, seriously, “ I don’t like to hear you 
speak so. It should be a pleasure to us to give a portion 
of what God has given us to his poor. You know where 
it says, ‘ Freely ye have received, freely give.’ God has 
been very good to me lately. Surely you would not have 
me begrudge the little I can do for him.” 


106 


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“ Well, it may be all right ; but when I see some peo- 
ple with lots of money afraid to pay out a little in that 
way, it seems as though you must be robbing yourself.” 

“ Why, Tom, don’t you know the J ews in olden times 
were expected to give a tenth of everything to the Lord ? 
Try giving something yourself, and see what a pleasure 
it is.” 

“ But you see I would not be giving my own, for I 
have to go to father for everything 1 want. I wish I had 
an allowance.” 

“ I have no doubt your father would give you one if 
you asked him.” 

“ I’ve a notion to do it this very night, Helen. I 
haven’t thought of it since I had that other talk with 
him.” 

He did speak to his father, who commenced his allow- 
ance at once ; and on Christmas morning Helen received 
a very beautiful set of furs from “ Uncle Howard and 
Tom.” 

“ You see,” said Tom, afterward, “ father suggested that 
we should give you something together. We would never 
have thought of doing anything together till you came, 
and he thought you might understand and appreciate. 
I suggested the furs, because I knew you had none, and 
because I was sure there was any amount of cold 
weather coming. It seemed rather appropriate, you know. 
You had ministered to our minds, and we could min- 
ister to your body.” 

It was a boy’s way of putting it, but it made Helen 


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107 


very happy. Indeed, it was a happy day ; Itogether. A 
long letter came from John, and one from Maud, both of 
which brought tears of joy to her eyes. John’s was such 
a dear, helpful letter ; and Maud’s, though much shorter, 
told her the girl was trying to do as she would have 
her. 

“John and I talk about you lots,” she said. “We both 
miss you so very much ; but John says the little white 
fairies bring such sweet messages, that it helps to make 
up for your being away. He has been so nice to me 
since you left, he has almost made me forget he is not my 
brother as well as yours. He is so good when I try to 
fix nice things for him to eat. They are never as nice as 
yours, but he won’t say so ; and when he found me crying 
the other night, because I had spoiled something I was 
trying to make for supper, he sat right down and told me 
how you had spoiled a whole dinner once, when he had 
brought home company, and the cook had gone away 
sick. He made me laugh by the funny way he told it, 
and then of course, I did not mind so much. If I could 
do things better, I would really like to do them.” 

This letter touched Helen particularly, for it showed 
that Maud was really and earnestly trying to take her 
place, as she had asked. She believed there were great 
possibilities in her nature, and felt that she might become 
a fine woman, if she would. 

Another pleasant surprise came to Helen that day from 
Mrs. Duncan. It was the dress that had belonged to her 
great-grandmother, together with various little things 


108 


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that had also belonged to her, and a hanging basket of 
powers for her room, from Mr. Duncan. 

“ We must put that in the sitting room,’ , she said. 

“ No, that was intended for you,” said Tom, who had 
witnessed the opening of the things. 

“ I am afraid there is not enough sunshine there for it. 
You know flowers love the light, and they repay us for 
giving it to them by growing beautiful and looking 
happy in it.” 

“Not all.” 

“No, they are just like people. There are some re- 
tiring, modest ones, whom God has fitted for the shady 
corners of life, and many of them grow very beautiful 
and lovely there, but the most of us need part sunshine 
and part shadow ; and the lights and shadows are ever 
changing, never more of either than we can bear. Did 
you ever stop to think, Tom, that of all the lives that 
have ever been lived, no two have been exactly alike ? 

God’s possibilities are infinite, and ours Do you know 

I sometimes wonder how we can expect anything of the 
future, when we do so neglect the magnificent opportuni- 
ties of the present. It is what we do and say now, at the 
present time, that not only influences our future, but that 
of others. 

“I wish I knew how to live just as God would wish,” 
said Bessie. 

“You have commenced already, dear, by wishing it.” 

“ But I am so little. I can’t do things as you and Tom 
can.” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


109 


“ God never puts anything on this earth, dear, without 
something for it to do. I remember once going with 
John to see a poor woman whose husband and three 
children had all died within a week. She had a little 
baby left, and she said that had kept her from losing her 
mind ; so you see we can never be too young to be of 
some use. We can begin by being home brighteners.” 

“That’s what you are, Cousin Helen. Everybody 
loves to have you about.” 

“ And does my little cousin not know that the home is 
very much brighter to Tom and me for having her in it ? ” 

“ But, Cousin Helen, that’s you. You are so, so sweet, 
I can’t help loving you and wanting you all the time; and 
Tom, why I love Tom better than any one else in the 
world. So I can’t help it, you know. That isn’t 
anything.” 

“ How about the other people in the house ? ” 

“ Oh, I can’t do anything for them. Adele scolds if I 
go near her room, and mamma says she can’t bear to 
have children always under her feet, and papa don't care 
at all.” 

“ I think you have made one little mistake ; for I 
heard papa say the other morning when you were tired, 
and not down to breakfast, that he wished he had time to 
go to your room and speak to you, because it never 
seemed as though the day had begun right if he did not 
see your face somewhere before he went out.” 

“ Did papa really say that ? ” asked the child, in some 
surprise. “Why, he never says much at breakfast, and I 


110 


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thought he didn’t care if anybody was there or 
not. I wasn’t even really tired that morning, either, 
only lazy, and I thought I would do as Adele does, and 
try lying in bed ; but I’ll never do it again, now, and I 
am so glad you told me. I can begin with papa, and try 
to make him like me more. It will be easier now I know 
he cares.” 

“ But God gives us hard things to do as well as easy 
ones. Bessie. He will make the hard things easy, just as 
he made it easy for Tom, after he made up his mind to 
go to his father. We must be ready, like soldiers in 
battle, to face trouble and defeat bravely, if we do not 
conquer at first.” 

“You mean I ought to try and make mamma and 
Adele oh, Cousin Helen, I couldn’t,” the child al- 

most sobbed. 

“ Not alone, but there is such a dear, good Friend who 
will help you.” 

“ How can I begin ? There isn’t anything I can do.” 

“ You will find an opportunity before you think, per- 
haps ; and then, ‘ Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do 
it with thy might.’ ” 

An opportunity occurred before the day was over for 
Bessie to act. Her mother had given her maid a half- 
holiday, and was bewailing the necessity for it when she 
wanted some things brought from her room. She had 
asked Helen to get them, when Bessie spoke quickly and 
said : 

“ Let me get them, please, mamma.” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


Ill 


“ No, you couldn’t find them,” said Mrs. Carter, in a 
not very gracious tone. 

“ Try me, please,” said Bessie, pleasantly ; and as her 
mother did not say no, and Helen smiled, she went off, 
only to return in a few moments with all the things she 
had gone for, and in addition Mrs. Carter found, when 
taking them, a very beautiful Marechal Neil rose. 

“ This is something my maid does not treat me to,” she * 
said, in some surprise. “ Where did it come from ? ” 

“ I raised it myself, mamma ; but it is yours now.” 

“ It is very thoughtful of you to give it to me,” said 
Mrs. Carter, and Bessie was happy. But before the day 
was over, she found the rose on the floor, crushed and 
withered. 

“ It was worth the loss of the rose, dear, to make the 
beginning,” said Helen, who saw it too, and put her arms 
lovingly about the child. 

“ Cousin Helen, I have watched and loved that rose so 
long.” 

“ God knows, Bessie ; and some day you may realize 
how he has given it back to you in another form. Who 
knows but it may have done much more for you to-day 
than anything else you could possibly have done? ” 

“ If I thought she really cared.” 

“There is never a kind, thoughtful word or deed that 
is lost, Bessie. God gives the very smallest of them such 
power to grow and beautify the world, that only those 
can know and understand who have passed through the 
golden gates and entered the glorious hereafter. All he 


112 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


asks from us is to do the best we know how. He does all 
the rest. Somehow your rose there reminds me of the 
bloom of our beautiful Southern plant, the cotton. After 
weeks and weeks of care and watchful attention, it shows 
itself in all its beauty, a most delicate, cream-colored 
flower that one loves to gaze on ; but only for a day does 
its beauty last. We wake up the second morning, and it 
is a dull, purplish-red, and soon it is withered and gone. 
So are many little unselfish acts of life. They are quickly 
over and forgotten, but there is a something left behind 
that God himself cares for. In the case of the cotton 
bloom, it is a tiny, little green knob that grows and 
grows until it bursts and overflows, and the fields are 
covered with the beautiful white, feathery balls. But 
even that is not the end of it, for these beautiful white 
balls are gathered together, and in time we, as well as 
people everywhere, are clothed and kept warm by them. 
God’s surprises are many, Bessie, and often bring to our 
minds a little word or deed we had not thought much of 
before. Suppose we keep the rose and press it. It may 
have done its work in a way we don’t know of now.” 

“ Please find that verse, Cousin Helen, in my Bible, 
and put it there, the one about doing things with your 
might. I would like to learn it. Repeat it, please.” 

“ Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
might,” said Helen, handling the rose very tenderly. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


CENTENNIAL GHOSTS. 

* 6 ATTHAT do you think I have here ? ” cried Adele, 
J * opening the door of a small room that she 
called her own private sitting room, which was now oc- 
cupied by Helen and Adele’s Boston friend, Margaret 
Parker. She flourished before her, as she spoke, three 
envelopes. 

“ Don’t dare keep us in suspense,” said Margaret, 
shaking her head ominously. 

“ I can’t do it. I must tell you. They are invita- 
tions to a Centennial Tea-party. Isn’t it lovely ? We 
are all expected to dress in costumes of a hundred years 
ago ; and they are so becoming and picturesque. See, the 
invitations are gotten up in ‘ ye olden style. ’ ” 

“ How can we see, if you keep them all to yourself? ” 
said Margaret. 

“ Who sent them ? ” asked Helen. 

“Mrs. Duncan,” said Adele, handing each of the 
girls an envelope, “ and I believe it was sending that 
dress to you at Christmas that put the notion in her 
head. How lovely that you have it to wear ! ” 

“ Wear that dress ! ” said Helen, quickly. “ No, 

I couldn’t do it.” 


H 


113 


114 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ Why, Helen, what do you mean ? Why can’t you 
do it? ” asked Adele, irritably. 

“ I should be afraid of ghosts,” was the reply. 

“ How fearfully absurd ! ” said Adele. “ I did not 
think that you, Helen Carter, with all your pretentions, 
were afraid of ghosts. Pray, what kind do you fear ? ” 
“ In this instance, Centennial ghosts, ” was the quick 
reply ; “ but Adele, you do not understand. The dress 
was worn by my great-grandmother, at a time when she 
proved herself a true heroine. She was one of those 
grand women whose deeds have become historic, and 
who have put to shame those who would have crushed 
them. Let me tell you my grandmother’s story some 
time, and then you will understand. ” 

“ Tell it now,” said Margaret. “ I always enjoy hear- 
ing of the lives of one’s ancestry.” 

“No, I have promised to tell it to Tom and Bessie ; 
so some time when we can all be together, and can im- 
agine ourselves back in ‘ ye olden times, ’ I will tell it. ” 
It was in these little quiet ways that Helen tried to 
bring Adele and her brother and sister together, by 
giving them some common interest. 

“ What will Mrs. Duncan say, if you do not wear the 
dress after she has sent it? She intended that, of course.” 

“ I hope not,” said Helen, quickly ; “ but if you think 
so, I will go to her to-day and see.” 

“ How can I help thinking so, when she first sent the 
dress, and then invited you there, as she has done? 
You’ll find, Margaret,” she said, addressing her visitor, 


THE SOUTHEKN COUSIN. 


115 


“that Helen is inclined to live on the dark side of 
life.” 

“ Why, Adele,” said Margaret, in some surprise, “ I 
don’t see how you can say so. I have been envying her, 
since I have been here, the power of finding something 
bright in everything. She always seems so happy and 
cheerful, that it is quite infectious, 1 think.” 

Helen gave her a quick, pleased look, as Adele 
said : 

“ Oh, Helen is bright enough herself, but I don’t see 
how she can be, when she is always mixing herself up 
with other people’s sorrows and troubles. I really be- 
lieve she hunts up such things and likes the dark 
side of life.” 

“ That reminds me of what a dear old Quaker lady 
said to me once, when I was complaining of there being 
so much sorrow and trouble in the world. I called it 
darkness, too ; but she said : ‘ Thee forgets, dear, that 
the darkness veils the presence of One whom we could 
not look on and live. When the darkness is greatest, 
then he is closest. I have seen those who have been in 
darkness, and who have come out with their faces 
glorified, as though they, like Moses, had been able to 
catch a glimpse of the glories behind the veil, and the 
reflection was still showing. My dear, we must all have 
some of the darkness in our own lives, but we should pray 
for just such faith as will pierce the veil and let the glory 
in. If thee is ever able to be with those who have done 
it, deem it a great privilege ; for thee may be able to 


116 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


catch a little of the reflection too, and thy life will be 
the better for it. ’ It seems to me I can remember every 
word she said, for it made an impression on me I do not 
think I shall ever forget. ” 

" Et tu Brute t ” said Adele, with a despairing shake 
of the head. “ Do you mean to tell me, Margaret Par- 
ker, that you have grown goody-goody, too ? 

“ Adele, I am not half as good as I would like to be, 
but since I have been looking into the lives of other 
good people, I have grown to envy some of them, or 
rather to wish I, too, could feel as they do. Perhaps 
Helen feels very much in the same way, though she may 
have tested the matter more than I. If you ” 

“ There, that’s enough. If you are going to preach I 
shall leave. I suppose you will tell me next that you 
have given up dancing. I have heard sermons enough 
on that point. I am sure, though, I can’t see where the 
sin comes in. ” 

“ I did not, either,” said Margaret ; “ but the same 
dear old Quaker lady told me she often found that 
the feet accustomed to much dancing grew too weary to 
go on God's errands of mercy.” 

“Well, if so-called Christians had control of the 
world, there would not be much pleasure in it, ” said 
Adele. 

“ I wish you could hear John talk on that subject, ” 
said Helen. “ He says the world is full of pleasures we 
don’t yet appreciate ; but of those we do, there are more 
than we can take in in a lifetime, if we will. He says 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


117 


we long too eagerly for the big pleasures that are often 
disappointing, and neglect the small ones that are to be 
found all about us. He finds them everywhere, and I 
think Mrs. Duncan does too. I wish you could meet 
her, Margaret. Suppose you and Adele come around 
there with me now, and we will ask her about the 
dress.” 

“ Thank you, no,” said Adele, “ I have had enough 
good talk for one day. You can go, Margaret, if you 
would like, and I will look up a costume for the tea- 
party. I’m not afraid of ghosts.” 

" Do come,” said Helen to Margaret. “ I am sure you 
will like Mrs. Duncan, and she loves to have young 
people come to see her, because she cannot go about 
herself.” 

Mrs. Duncan had been suffering that day more than 
usual, but the sight of two bright young faces brought 
a pleased look to hers. 

“ I was just wondering,” she said, “ what would be the 
best tonic I could take after my attack, and here comes 
something better than all the medicinal tonics in the 
world. My dear,” she said, turning to Margaret, “ it 
was very good of you to come to see an old woman like 
me.” 

“ You must thank Helen for bringing me,” she said, 
smiling. 

“ Helen knows how I love to have young people about 
me, and I think she understands something of the pleas- 
ures to be derived from the little things of life.” 


118 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“How odd!” said Margaret. “We were talking of 
that very thing just before we started.” And she gave 
Helen a quick, pleased look. 

“And what were you saying about it, my dear? ” 

“Helen was saying that we missed so much by neglect- 
ing the little pleasures about us.” 

“ She is right there ; but I will go farther, and say, 
that those who neglect the little duties of life sometimes 
find that they have missed the way to heaven, for the little 
things of earth are the great things of heaven. It is not 
the check for thousands, given to a charitable cause, that 
does the giver so much good in the sight of God, as the 
food and clothing he gives the poor widow, who comes in 
his way, and of whom the world knows nothing. You 
know the value, in the eyes of God, of even a cup of cold 
water, when given in his name. We should be constantly 
on the lookout for these little opportunities, for God is 
ever putting them in our way. I have known people who 
have asked God to give them something to do for him, 
expecting some great thing, when they were stumbling 
over opportunities that lay right in their path. You 
perhaps think it a small thing that you should give up a 
little of your time to an old woman like me occasion- 
ally ; but it is life and health and strength to me to have 
young people about, and there are thousands like me. 
A little here, and a little there, and how many sad lives 
would be brightened.” 

“ Please don’t talk in that way about yourself, Mrs. 
Duncan,” said Helen. “ You do us more good than we 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


119 


can possibly do you. It is a privilege to be allowed to 
come, and I am always the better for it. I had a special 
purpose in coming to-day, though.” 

“ The purpose ? ” asked Mrs. Duncan, pleasantly, the 
interest she felt showing itself in her eyes, that bright- 
ened at once. “She was a beautiful old lady,” as Mar- 
garet afterward expressed it, with her clear complexion 
and wavy, snow-white hair. Her dress was always black 
silk, with delicate lace at throat and wrists. That at the 
throat was caught by an exquisite miniature pin. “ My 
husband’s wedding present, many years ago,” she had 
once told Helen. “ It was a likeness of him then, and I 
like to look at it now T and go over those happy times in 
my thoughts.” Her only other ornaments were worn on 
the third finger of her left hand, which had grown so 
thin and delicate that both the wedding ring, and the 
diamond one that guarded it, were much smaller now 
than they had originally been. 

Helen told her at once just what had brought her 
there, and gave her reasons for not wishing to wear the 
dress. 

“Afraid of ghosts!” said Mrs. Duncan, laughing. 
“Well, well, you young people have original ways of 
putting things that are quite refreshing. It is true, Helen, 
sending you the dress did suggest the idea of the tea ; 
but only because I thought I would like to see a glimpse 
of the olden times around me, as my mother used to de- 
scribe it. I think some of the young people of to-day 
will look very quaint and picturesque in costumes such 


120 


THE SOUTH EKN COUSIN. 


as their great-grandmothers wore. But, my dear, I did 
not send you that dress for the purpose of having you 
wear it ; nor would I have you do it, now you have told 
me your feelings, but you will come dressed in the old 
style?” 

“ Indeed, I will, if you will let me be just what I am, 
an ordinary Southern girl. You need not be afraid, 
either, that there will be anything modern about me, for I 
love the old style of dress, and have often fixed myself up 
to amuse the children. I shall enjoy so much doing it now 
in earnest; for I can be just what I am, and yet imagine 
myself living a hundred years ago. I do think it will 
be just lovely.” 

“ And Margaret,” asked Mrs. Duncan, “ how does she 
propose to come ? ’’ 

“I have worn, on several occasions, a very elegant 
dress that has been in our family many years ; but, 
since I have heard Helen’s fear of ghosts, I do not know 
whether I can do so again. If I don’t wear it, I’ll just 
come as a Yankee girl.” 

“ How perfectly delightful that would be ! ” said Helen, 
laughing. “ I can see you now going up and saying : 
‘Evnin’, Mis. Duncan,’ and I can follow with mv 
4 howdy.’ I shall never forget the first time Tom heard 
me use that expression ; but, then, he is always finding 
something in my manner or expressions peculiarly South- 
ern, and he enjoys them in his odd way.” 

“Don’t you think you will like Mr3. Duncan?” 
asked Helen, as the two girls were on their way home. 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


121 


“ Like her ! ” was the reply. “ She’s grand. I wish 
I could think I would be half as interesting when I am 
her age.” 

“ It is through trials and suffering that she has become 
what she is, she says. It seems to me when trouble does 
soften the head and nature, it is very beautiful, and yet 
we shrink from pain and suffering as though they were 
curses. When I look at Mrs. Duncan sometimes, and 
realize that the world is better for her having lived in it, 
I wonder if it would be possible for any one ever to say 
that of me. When you know her better you will under- 
stand more of the good she does. She cannot go about 
doing it, so she does it in her way at home. She has a 
young people’s Bible reading every Sunday afternoon, and 
rich or poor are welcome and expected to meet on a com- 
mon level. Then, one night in every week, is given up to 
the young men in the employ of her son. One of them is 
soon to be married, and she has been planning a recep- 
tion for him at her home. It is unselfish thought for 
others that prompts the ‘ little deeds of kindness,’ that 
make this earth so nearly like the heaven above.” 


CHAPTER XV. 


PLEASURE OR DUTY? 

** YAH, Helen, how lovely you do look ! ” 

Vy It was the night of Mrs. Carter’s reception, and 
it was Margaret who spoke, as she came into the room, 
where they had all agreed to meet before going to the 
long parlor to receive. 

“ Flatterer ! ” said Helen, blushing. “ I suppose you 
don’t think that you look well yourself? ” 

“ I ! ” said Margaret. “ I only look as scores of other 
girls will; but there won’t be one like you. You re- 
mind me of a princess I once read of in a fairy tale.” 

“Do I?” said Helen, laughing. “Well, a real live 
fairy godmother gave me my dress, so you see, so far, the 
fairy part holds good.’\ 

“ I shall be looking for the prince to come and carry 
you off, all the evening.” 

“ Ho fear of that,” laughed Helen ; and as she spoke, 
Adele and her mother entered. Mrs. Carter was dressed 
in black velvet and diamonds, and Adele in green velvet, 
with gilt braid and a profusion of tulle. It was a very 
striking dress, and one of which Adele was very proud. 
Her neck and arms were bare, save for the jewels they 
bore, and the long gloves that reached above her elbows. 

“ I cannot help thinking,” said Mrs. Carter, examining 
122 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


123 


Helen’s dress, “ that you will be sorry, before the evening 
is over, that you did not follow my advice, and have 
your dress made differently.” 

“ You surely would not have her changed,” said Mar- 
garet, in surprise. 

“A society girl might affect that severe style, and 
create a sensation ; but I would have preferred having 
Helen dress a little more like others. I am not sure but 
people will begin to talk of her as ‘ a poor relation,’ and 
I do not think she will like that.” 

“ It would only be the truth, Aunt Alice,” said Helen, 
earnestly ; “ and surely you would not have me pretend 
to be what I am not. You know I have been brought up 
a little differently from girls ‘ in society,’ and you can 
hardly expect me to change my nature, and give up my 
principles just for such a thing as this. I think John 
would be better satisfied with me as I am than if I had 
appeared as a thorough society girl, which I am not, and 
never can be. He says it is the clothing we give the 
heart, not the body, that matters most. I will try to 
make myself as agreeable as I know how, and then per- 
haps people won’t think of the dress.” 

She spoke pleasantly, and as she ended, looked at 
Margaret, who said, quickly : 

“ They can’t help that ; but I predict, with your simple 
elegance, in dress and your ease of manner, that you will 
attract more attention and admiration than either Adele 
or myself.” 

“ You forget the pug nose,” said Helen, laughing. 


124 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ No, I don’t forget that ; it is the most bewitching 
suspicion of one I ever saw.” 

“ Here we come, in battle array,” said Tom, entering 
with a large waiter filled with bouquets of handsome 
flowers. “ These are shields sent by gallant knights to 
protect our fair dames from the deadly weapons of the 
enemy — Cupid. Halloo ! It strikes me I got that a little 
mixed ; perhaps Cupid himself was the messenger. Dear 
me, the little fellow may be concealed somewhere among 
these flowers, after all.” 

“ Don’t talk such nonsense,” said Adele, impatiently. 
“ Put the waiter down, and let me see whom the flowers 
are from.” 

“ Not so fast, my lady ; they are not all yours.” 

“ Let me see them,” said Mrs. Carter ; and, lifting one 
from the waiter, she looked at the card, and handing it to 
Adele, said : 4 From Mr. Edmands.’ 

“ This is the one I shall carry,” said Adele, with evi- 
dent pleasure, but a look of some annoyance came into 
her face when she found that there were two other 
bouquets from Mr. Edmands, one for Helen and one for 
Margaret. “ We can’t all three carry one man’s flowers,” 
she said, irritably. 

“ Certainly not,” said Helen, “ and we do not intend to, 
though we appreciate the kindness that prompted the 
sending of them.” 

“Here is the one for Helen to carry,” said Mrs. 
Carter, handing her another. “ It will give color to her 
dress, and comes from Mr. Baylor.” 


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125 


Helen had extended her hand, but as soon as she 
heard the name, she drew it back, saying : 

“ I would rather not, Aunt Alice.” 

“ Why, Helen ? I am afraid Mr. Baylor will be 
offended, if you do not,” said Mrs. Carter. 

“ Then I am very sorry he sent them, for I cannot use 
them. I do not like him.” 

“ Why, Helen, he is immensely wealthy.” 

“ That does not make me like him,” she said, looking 
at her aunt in a surprised way, “ and I certainly am very 
sorry ” 

“ Are you ? ” said Mr. Carter, entering at the moment, 
and not knowing of what she was talking. “ Well, I'm 
not sorry, for one, that you are here to grace our home on 
this occasion, and I’m thinking there will be eyes 
younger than mine that will follow you about to-night. 
Who knows, but some prince may find in you his 
princess. He could hardly choose a fairer.” 

“ Oh, uncle, I did not know that you, too, were a 
flatterer.” 

There was not time to say more, for they were all 
obliged to go at once to the parlor, where they were to 
receive the guests, and it seemed to Helen for a time as 
though she had suddenly been transported to fairy land 
in earnest. If Mrs. Carter had any doubts of Helen’s 
reception by her fashionable friends, they were soon set at 
rest, for her perfectly natural, unaffected Southern man- 
ners won her admirers at once. If she herself was 
unconscious of the fact that she was having more 


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attention than Adele even, it was because she gave no 
thought to self. Once she was reminded of it by 
Mr. Duncan, who said, so low that no one else could 
hear : 

“ If John were here to-night, I think he would be very 
proud of his sister.” 

She gave him a pleased, glad look, and a bright color 
showed itself in her face ; but she had not time to 
say anything, for Mr. Edmands was speaking. 

“ At last,” he said, “ I am able to get in a word. I 
assure you, Miss Carter, it has grown to be a feat, requir- 
ing some skill, to get a few moments of your time. Now 
that I have the floor, tell me, please, how you enjoy this, 
your first large atfair.” 

“ Very, very much indeed, so far.” 

“ And you are ready now to keep the ball rolling, and 
be at every other affair of the kind this winter ? ” 

“ No,” said Helen, quietly. 

“ Why not keep it up, if you like this one ? I am 
sure you will have many invitations after to-night.” 

“ I should not care to,” she said, simply. 

“Would you mind telling me just why?” asked 
Mr. Edmands so earnestly that, after looking at him a 
moment, she said, earnestly too : 

“ I have been brought up to believe the world is so full 
of duties that we can only accept such high days 
and holidays as this occasionally, if we would rightly per- 
form those duties. Christ himself appeared at some of 
the social gatherings of his time, but his life was so full 


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127 


of work for others that he could not give up much time 
to them.” 

“ Thank you/' he said, as though she had conferred a 
favor on him, and immediately changed the conversation ; 
but he remembered it an hour later when he came to her 
again, and asked her to come with him to an adjoining 
room. 

“You are still eujoying yourself?” he asked. 

“Oh, yes,” was the reply. 

“ But if there were anything you could do for another, 
you would be willing to give it up for a time ? ” 

“What is it ? ”she asked, quickly divining a purpose in 
his asking her to leave the room. 

“Your uncle,” he said, “has fainted, and in falling 
struck his head. It happened in the dining room, and 
fortunately the doors had not been thrown open. Dr. 
Taylor is with him but wants him moved before he 
makes a thorough investigation. The servants are all so 
frightened, they can give no help, and no one else knows 
where to take him.” 

“ Does my aunt know ? ” 

“ No, we think it best to keep it from her and her 
daughter, for the present. Do you object to going in ? He 
is almost unconscious, and will not know you.” 

“ Oh, I must go in,” she said, “ and I will see that he is 
taken right to my room, which is the quietest place in the 
house to-night.” 

She found Mr. Duncan and the doctor bending over 
her uncle, and surrounded by a group of terrified 


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servants. Mr. Duncan looked up as she entered, but she 
only questioned him by a look. 

“ The doctor wants him moved at once,” he said, rising. 
“ Can you tell us where to take him where he will be 
quiet ? ” 

“Yes, to my room,” and she spoke to one or two of the 
servants in a way that quieted them, and caused some to 
leave the room. “I think,” she added to Mr. Duncan, 
“if he is taken up the back way, I can prevent his meet- 
ing any one, by going ahead and closing all the 
doors.” 

It was not long after that when her uncle was gently 
laid on her bed, and she was moving about, shading the 
light from his eyes, and otherwise arranging things more 
comfortably. When the doctor was ready for his exam- 
ination, she slipped into an adjoining room ; and when it 
was over, appeared again in a dark, tight-fitting flannel 
gown that was a complete contrast to her former 
appearance. 

“ You’re made of the right stuff, Miss Carter, if you 
change like that,” said Dr. Taylor, holding out his hand. 
“ It is not every girl who would leave that gay 
crowd down stairs, and do as you have done. I think I 
shall have to make you head nurse.” 

“ Is my uncle seriously ill ? ” she asked. 

“ In one sense, no ; in another sense, yes,” was the 
reply. 

“ Would you mind explaining? ” said Helen. 

“ Miss Carter,” said the doctor, “ your uncle is not alarm- 


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ingly ill just now. He will be conscious most probably 
before long, and will be about again in a few days ; but be 
is breaking down gradually from overwork, and unless be 
can be persuaded to take a long rest and give up business 
entirely for some months, I fear for tbe consequences. 
You are a sensible girl, and I tell you this, hoping you 
may be able to help me in urging him to take a rest.” 

He gave a few instructions after this and then left, say- 
ing be would return in a little while and see bis patient. 
Helen saw that her uncle needed nothing then, and turn- 
ing to Mr. Edmands, urged him to go back to those who 
would miss him down stairs. 

“ And you ? ” he asked, “ will not you be missed ? 
Had you not already settled yourself for the night, 
I should insist on you being the one to return. Remem- 
ber, this is your first affair of the kind.” 

“ I could not enjoy any more of it now,” she said, and 
then, changing the subject, thanked him for the flowers 
he had sent. 

“ I did not know but I had annoyed you by sending 
them, still I thought you might like to carry some.” 

“ Annoy me ! ” she said, quickly remembering the day 
he had spoken to her so pleasantly in the store when 
her own cousin had passed her by. “I am sorry you 
thought that.” 

“ Will you tell me then why you did not wear them ? ” 
he asked. 

“ I would rather not,” she said, simply. 

“ Then I shall not ask you farther,” he said, thinking 

I 


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the straightforward objection much more to be admired 
than an evasive but elaborate excuse. 

“You will tell my aunt about uncle? ’’she said. “It 
does not seem right to have so much gayety in the house 
while he lies ill. She will not like it if she is not 
told.” 

“ Do you think so ? I am not sure.” 

“ Oh Mr. Edmands ! Suppose — suppose he is worse 
than the doctor thinks. I am afraid she would never 
forgive us if we did not tell her.” 

Before Mr. Edmands could reply, a groan from the 
sick man caused Helen to bend over him affectionately. 

“ Where am I ?” he asked, in a bewildered tone. 

“Here, with Helen,” was the quick reply. “Your 
head hurts, you know, uncle, and you must let me bathe 
it as I did once before.” 

“ Ye3, yes, it hurts, and they tell me I must have rest. 
What was that the minister said of rest last Sunday ? 
It’s been running through my he'ad all the time, and now 
it’s gone.” 

“ 4 Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest,’ ” she repeated slowly. 

“Yes, yes, that’s it. I can sleep again now you’ve 
found it for me ; but you must keep your hand on my 
head. You’re a good girl, and it rests me to have you 
near.” 

Down stairs the scene had changed when Mr. Edmands 
returned. On the very spot where the master of the 
house had lain so short a time before, busy feet were now 


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131 


harrying to and fro, while the room was fall of the sound 
of many voices, as the good things so generously pro- 
vided were being rapidly disposed of. 

“ Halloo, Edmands ! ” said one friend whom he passed 
on his tour through the rooms in search of Mrs. Carter, 
“you look as though you had been listening to a 
sermon.” 

“ I have,” was the reply, as he moved on. 

He found Mrs. Carter at last, and drawing her aside, 
told her what he thought she ought to know of her hus- 
band’s condition. He was surprised to find how quietly 
she took it, while thanking him most profusely for his 
attentions. 

“ I will go up and see him in a few moments,” she 
said, “ but I know very well what it is. He had just 
such a turn once before, and fainted from the intensity 
of the pain in his head. I was alarmed then, but a com- 
plete rest soon set him all right. 1 will send one of the 
servants to him, and they can let me know if he wants 
anything.” 

“ Mr. Duncan and Miss Helen are with him.” 

“ Helen ! Helen ! and I have been sending everywhere 
for her. Several persons have inquired for her. I must 
send for her at once.” 

“ She will not come,” was the reply. “ She has con- 
stituted herself head nurse for the night.” 

“ I must stop that,” said Mrs. Carter. “ She will not 
be fit for anything to-morrow night, and Mrs. Gordon 
insists on my bringing her to a musicale she is to give.” 


132 


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“ Miss Carter,” said Mr. Edmands, later in the even- 
ing to Adele, “ do you make a success of everything as 
you have done of this evening? I hear but one expres- 
sion on every side, and that complimentary to you and 
your mother for your taste in all the arrangements.” 

“ I am so glad you like it all,” said Adele, who knew 
that the something that had given a look to the rooms, 
different from that seen on similar occasions elsewhere, 
had been due to Helen’s taste entirely. 

“ How about success elsewhere ? ” he asked. 

“ You mean with the Southern girl ? ” she asked, look- 
ing at him out of the corners of her eyes. 

“ Yes, you know I said I should want to note progress.” 

“ She’s the very queerest combination I ever came 
across,” said Adele, decidedly. “ I have been wondering 
to-night what there can be so attractive about her, and 
I am half inclined to think her a studied flirt, after 
all.” 

“ What has brought you to that decision ? ” asked her 
companion. 

“ One thing, was a conversation I overheard between 
her and one of the richest men in the room. It was 
either intensely rude, or intended as a bait. I will let 
you judge for yourself.” 

“Miss Carter would hardly thank us for passing judg- 
ment on her from a conversation that had been 
overheard.” 

“ Oh, that isn’t anything ; and indeed you must listen, 
for it was too funny.” 


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133 


Before lie could make further excuses, she was telling 
him the story. 

“ She received a very handsome bouquet/’ she said, 
“which mother was anxious she should carry, knowing 
it would be well for her to encourage the attentions of so 
wealthy a man ; but imagine her, a girl without a cent in 
the world, expressing regret — as he stood before her, his 
diamond studs sparkling, and he himself able to give her 
anything in the world she wanted, that he had sent her a 
few flowers, and hoping such a thing would not happen 
again. I imagine he was rather taken aback, for he 
asked the cause of her displeasure ; and she replied, that 
his cynical, sneering remarks at their last interview, on 
subjects that were sacred in her eyes, had convinced her 
that they could never be friends ; she could not endure 
meeting and conversing with a man who talked as he 
did. If any girl said such a thing to you, would you not 
consider her very rude, Mr. Edmands?” 

“ It would depend largely on what I saw in her face as 
she said it,” was the reply. “ There are times when such 
words can do a man good.” 

“ Well, he has asked for Helen twice since. You men 
are very hard to understand,” she said, half burying her 
face in her own bouquet. 

When Mr. Edmands went again to the room where 
Mr. Carter lay ill, he was followed by a tall waiter, 
carrying a tray of eatables. 

“ I cannot eat anything,” said Helen, when told that 
the things were for her and Mr. Duncan. 


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“ You forget that you may need all your strength in 
the next few days, and you must take care of it, and do 
everything to keep it up. Besides, Mr. Duncan has had 
nothing, and I think he would enjoy eating more, if he 
had some one with him. I will watch your uncle.” 

“You are right,” she said. “We must not let Mr. 
Duncan suffer. Aunt Alice does not think there is much 
the matter with uncle ; but I am sure the doctor is more 
anxious than he was at first.” 


CHAPTER XVI. 


MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER. 

I T was several days before Helen thought she could 
leave her uncle for any length of time, for he 
seemed to want her by him all the time, and was in fact 
more seriously ill than had been at first supposed. Mrs. 
Carter insisted always that there was very little the 
matter, and not only would not give up any engagements 
of her own, but was annoyed at Helen’s reluctance to 
going about as usual. Adele “hated sick rooms,” and 
would scarcely enter that of her father. It was Helen 
who was ever ready with a bright smile and pleasant 
word when he roused, and she found her way into a warm 
corner of his heart during this time. Bessie would steal 
in softly at times, and quietly lay her young, fresh face 
by the side of her father’s, all seamed and wrinkled with 
care, and there were times when the three had talks that 
were never forgotten by either of them. 

“ Papa,” said Bessie, one day, “ I wonder if I can ever 
be half the help to any one that Cousin Helen is? She 
makes people happy, everywhere, and she makes you 
want to be good, not because you ought to be, but be- 
cause you want to please God. I never wanted to be 
good in the same way before, but now it seems queer 
that everybody does not look at it as Cousin Helen 


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does. I used to think God was so far off it tired me to 
think of it ; but now it is so sweet to feel that he is around 
about us all the time, and never leaves us. Don’t you 
think we ought to be ashamed to think anything we 
would not like him to know? Tom says it is almost as 
bad to think wrong as to do it, only it is not so bad for 
others then as for ourselves. Do you know, papa, I 
never loved you half so well as I have done since I loved 
God more.” 

. Mr. Carter thought this last was due partly to himself, 
but he did not say so at the time ; for he knew that the 
change was due to the quiet influence of the girl who had 
entered his home so short a time before, and who, in her 
simplicity, never dreamed of the great work she was 
doing. Tom came every evening to his father, and as he 
grew stronger, entertained him with bits of the outside 
world calculated to interest him. He never stayed long 
at a time, but the visits were appreciated ; and one night 
he came, and in his abrupt way, informed his father that 
it was a capital time for a ghost story, and if he’d let him 
help him to the sitting room, he'd find a big easy chair 
waiting for him, and it was more than likely that Helen 
would “ bring out her ghost.” 

Mr. Carter listened with interest. To think that Tom 
should plan for him in this way ! He had not yet left 
his room, as the doctor said he must still keep away from 
any care or annoyance, but this — this was a delightful 
change, and would be a rest in itself. Helen was de- 
lighted to see the pleased look on his face, and rose at 


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137 


once to render what assistance she might be able to give. 
Mr. Carter was still weak, and was glad of Tom’s sup- 
port ; but when the sitting-room door was opened, and a 
deep voice drawled out the words “ w — wa — walk in,” 
he burst out laughing. 

“ Do you know, Tom,” he said, “it is so long since I 
have been in this room, that I had quite forgotten we had 
a parrot.” 

“Well, she does not intend you shall forget it any 
longer,” Helen said, as she joined in the laugh. “ Polly 
is a member of the family by no means to be neglected.” 

It was, indeed, a night for ghost stories; for the fast 
falling snow was being blown around the house by 
fierce gusts of wind that shook everything shakable, 
and caused everything to rattle outside that was not 
securely fastened. Margaret and Adele. were present, the 
latter glad of something to do on such a night. 

“ There is a full house now,” said Tom, when they 
were all comfortably settled. “Polly has acted as or- 
chestra, and it is time for the curtain to rise on the 
ghost. I suppose that comes in in the last act, though.” 

“ Oh, Tom,” laughed Helen. “ There isn’t any ghost 
in my story at all.” 

“But you did say something about ghosts and that 
dress of your great-grandmother’s.” 

“Yes, Tom. I said I could not wear it to the tea- 
party, for I should be afraid of ghosts. And so I should. 
My grandmother wore that dress at a time when she 
proved herself a heroine. I am not one ; and were I to 


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wear that dress, and try to personate her, I should 
imagine the ghosts of my ancestors hovering around, 
and whispering in my ear : ‘ Could you do as she did ? 
Could you do as she did ? ’ I never did think it right to 
try to step into the shoes of others and personate them ; for 
we do not know what brave, noble deeds they may have 
done, or what a caricature we make, if we could only see 
it. That is what I mean by Centennial ghosts.” 

“ H — m ! ” said Tom. “ Never heard of ghosts in a pre- 
lude before. Southern style, I suppose. Quite new and 
original. Well, since we’ve had the ghosts, and are still 
alive to tell the tale, just fire away and give the story.” 

In her usual manner Adele attempted to reprove Tom ; 
but he took it good-naturedly, and said he supposed there 
might be a chance of his doing some things by the time 
he got to be a hundred. After a little more pleasantry 
from Tom, Helen began her story : 

“ My great-grandmother,” she said, “who owned that 
dress, had just grown up at the time of the ‘ Boston Tea- 
party.’ Her father was a staunch tory, but she, with 
younger blood in her veins, and a mind that thought and 
looked into things on her own account, sympathized deeplv 
with those who were fighting for freedom. I always think 
it was so noble in her to boldly declare her principles when 
she knew it would rouse her father’s anger, for he was 
very bitter. They had not moved to North Carolina then, 
and grandmother was where she was constantly meeting 
English officers ; for her father was wealthy, and enter- 
tained a great deal. There was one officer, a Captain 


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139 


Fowler, who was madly in love with her, and her father 
had quite made up his mind that she must marry him. But 
grandmother had met, at the house of her dearest friend, 
a brave, handsome fellow, whom she had learned to love 
devotedly. He was loyal to the principles of right and 
justice, and was one of those to whose courage and endur- 
ance we now owe our independence. It was known that 
great-grandmother and her father sympathized with op- 
posite sides, and it was also known that great-grandmother 
herself saw constantly ‘long-headed John/ as he was 
called ; for he was known by both friend and foe as a 
daring, fearless fellow, ready at any moment to encoun- 
ter danger, if by so doing he could help the cause for 
which he fought. It had been long known that he con- 
stantly gained information of the enemy’s plans, but no 
one knew just how until it began to be whispered about 
that much of it came from my grandmother, and gradu- 
ally it began to be rumored that her father himself was 
a traitor. Captain Fowler vowed vengeance against 
‘ long-headed John/ and followed and watched him for 
months, without being able to catch him. Then he de- 
termined to apparently drop the search, and trust to 
luck to throw an opportunity in his way for doing what 
he had determined. He took up his courting in earnest, 
and insisted that an early day should be named for his 
marriage. My great-grandmother declared that nothing 
would induce her to promise to ‘love, honor and obey’ a 
man whom she could not respect. Her father threatened 
her in every way he could think of ; but she never faltered, 


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even when the very day was named. She tried to per- 
suade her father that she no longer owed him the blind 
obedience of a little child, and that she could not give it 
when her whole soul revolted. Her mother had died 
when she was very young, so that she had learned to look 
to her father for advice in everything until now, and he 
could not understand the change. I have thought so 
much of the struggle my grandmother must have gone 
through, in trying to avoid her father’s displeasure, and 
still act as her conscience dictated. There is one letter 
of hers still preserved, in which she says : ‘ I have prayed 
God day and night that he would guide me in this, lest I 
make some mistake, and give me strength to feel that all 
will come right somewhere and somehow.’ She was very 
beautiful, and her father was proud of her, and boasted 
of the number of suitors she had. Just why he favored 
Captain Fowler it is hard to tell, unless there were polit- 
ical reasons, Ipit favor him he did, and that very decid- 
edly. About the time the wedding day was appointed, my 
great-grandmother was told that a grand ball wa3 to be 
given to the English officers, and that she must not only 
be present, but have an unusually elegant costume for 
the occasion. Knowing the time would soon come for her 
to leave her father entirely, for he had threatened to dis- 
own her if she refused to marry as he wished, she deter- 
mined to please him in this, and had bought the cos- 
tume now in my possession. They say she was more than 
usually beautiful that night, and her father was delighted 
with the notice she attracted, and began to think that, 


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141 


after all, he might not have so much trouble with her as 
he thought. Captain Fowler followed her about, but 
she would have very little to say to him, and tried to 
keep out of his reach. When the gayety was at its 
height, she felt something mysteriously slipped into her 
hand, but by whom she could not tell, for she dared not 
look too closely about her ; nor did she dare examine the 
paper in her hand until she could slip off for a moment, 
and be alone. When she did, she found it contained 
but a few badly spelled, mysterious words ; but they 
were enough to tell her her favored lover was at the 
house of a woman named Betsy Harker, wounded, and 
perhaps, dying. She felt she must get to him as soon as 
possible, but that if she left just then suspicion would be 
excited at once ; so she determined to watch her oppor- 
tunity, and leave when she could do so and attract the 
least notice. Unconsciously, her father made things 
easier than she expected by telling her he should remain 
after she left, as there was to be a conference that he had 
been asked to attend. 

“The minutes seemed like hours then I know until 
she could slip out unobserved. With a long, dark cloak 
thrown about her, she hurried through the streets, which, 
fortunately for her, were deserted at that hour. Fortu- 
nately, too, she knew where guards were stationed, and 
how to avoid them, thanks to her knowledge of the 
plans of some of the English officers. But her worst 
fears were for her journey in the country, for a mile of 
country road lay between her and her lover, and she 


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knew not what dangers were before her there. She had 
gone over the most of it, keeping in the shadow of the 
trees, for it was moonlight, and she dared not venture 
into the road itself, where she could be plainly seen, 
when a voice near said suddenly ‘ Halt ! 1 She had seen 
the man a moment before, and knew that as he spoke a 
large tree, by which she was standing, stood between 
them. Quick as thought, she dropped to the foot of it 
in a heap, completely covered by her cloak. She heard 
the click of a musket as the sentinel approached, and 
his foot almost touched her, as he stopped in evident sur- 
prise at not seeing any one. 

“‘I certainly heard and saw someone moving by this 
tree/ she heard him say ; and then he used some stronger 
language and moved away. It was with fear and trem- 
bling that she at last looked out from under her cloak to 
see if there was any chance of escape. Imagine her con- 
sternation on seeing a company of soldiers approaching 
and interviewing the guard. As they drew a little nearer, 
she could even hear what was said. 

“‘I tell you, no woman could pass without my knowing 
it/ said the sentinel. 

“My great-grandmother said there was some strong 
language used by both sides then ; and she learned that 
she had been missed in some way, and it was suspected 
that she had gone to give information to the enemy. She 
learned, too, that every road was being searched, and that 
it was confidently believed she would be captured some- 
where. Her heart beat very rapidly as they came 


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143 


nearer and nearer to the tree where she was, and sug- 
gested searching the woods.” 

“ Oh, Cousin Helen, they did not really find her, did 
they ? ” interrupted Bessie. 

“ Don’t stop her, Bessie,” said Adele, “just at the most 
exciting part too.” 

Helen took one of Bessie’s hands in hers, reassuringly, 
as she said : 

“ The good Lord heard her silent appeal to him ; and 
she said after she had made it with all the earnestness of 
her nature, she could almost feel his presence, and even 
when she knew that Captain Fowler himself was near 
enough to touch her if she stretched out her hand, she 
had no further fear ; for she felt that the strong arm of a 
mightier than he was about her, and she knew he would 
not leave her. It seemed to her ages that she was kept 
there, so still and quiet, looking, thanks to her dark 
cloak, like an old stump. How little those men thought, 
that at their very feet crouched the woman for whom they 
were searching, still arrayed in the costume that had at- 
tracted so much attention only a few hours before. While 
they were discussing the advisability of searching the woods 
carefully, the sentinel assured them that it was useless, 
as he had just been through a portion of them himself. 
He was evidently very uneasy, fearing lest they should 
find what he had searched for and failed to find. He 
was so decided, that Captain Fowler determined to take 
his advice, and retrace his way for a short distance to a 
cross-road, which was not so well watched. Cautiously 


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my great-grandmother looked out again as they turned 
their backs upon her, and to her delight saw the sentinel 
accompanying them. She waited until a turn in the road 
hid them all from view, and then rose quickly and hur- 
ried off, hoping to get out of sight herself before the 
sentinel returned to his post. She not only succeeded in 
doing that, but in reaching her destination without 
further adventure. There she found her lover so weak 
from the loss of blood and suffering, that he was only con- 
scious at times, but he knew her when she arrived, and 
fervently thanked God she had come, for he believed 
himself dying ; but Betsy Harker had cared for and 
tended wounded men before, and assured my great-grand- 
mother now that her lover would not die, but would be 
better after he had rested and eaten more. She was one 
of the women whom the Lord prepared for emergencies. 
Without an attractive face, she had a helpful, encouraging 
manner, that gave hope and confidence. Her position in 
life was humble, but she worked for the Master with a 
soul so full of love for him, that nothing earthly inspired 
her with fear. She had found the wounded man in a 
ditch, where he had been left for dead, and with the help 
of a grandson, had brought him to her home, where she 
dressed his wounds and cared for him as though he had 
been her own son. For an hour my great-grandmother did 
not leave her lover’s side. Then strange sounds outside 
caused her quickly to pick up his musket, examine it, and 
then enter an adjoining room where Betsy Harker, stand- 
ing at the open door, was interviewing some one outside. 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


145 


Imagine her horror on finding Captain Fowler and his 
company of men outside. He was declaring that all 
persons in the house, concealed or otherwise, were his 
prisoners, and he advised them to surrender peaceably. 

“‘Never!’ said my great-grandmother, stepping for- 
ward. 

“ The captain laughed coarsely when he saw her, and 
told her he would separate her from her lover now, and 
would carry her back in triumph. 

“ ‘ You will never take me alive,’ she said, handling her 
musket in a resolute way ; £ but if my dead body will save 
the other members of this house from further molestation, 
you can order your men to fire. No one shall lay hands 
on me or approach this house as long as I can wield this 
weapon.’ 

“ The captain was furious, and vowed he would have 
her dead rather than let another have her alive. Her 
very coolness angered him, and he gave directions for 
surrounding the house, in such sharp, loud tones, that the 
wounded man came, pale and tottering, to the door. As 
soon as he appeared the captain changed his orders, and 
gave the word to fire. But my great-grandmother was 
prepared for that and stepped in front of her lover, push- 
ing him aside as she stood alone in her beauty to receive 
what she supposed would be death. Not a shot was fired 
however, for every soldier had seen her action. Betsy 
Harker had caught the wounded man as he fainted, 
and was powerless to aid my great-grandmother, when 
the infuriated captain stamped on the ground and 
K 


146 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


again gave the command to fire. Again no sound fol- 
lowed ; but an old gray-haired man approached, and 
catching the captain by the arm, begged him for the love 
of God to stop and let them go away. ‘ Pray God/ he 
said, 4 that if you are ever in trouble yourself, you may 
have as brave a defender as that fair girl.’ 

“ My great- grandmother said she had no fear of death 
herself at the time, if she could only save her lover ; and 
when she saw Captain Fowler knock down the man who 
had just spoken for her, she would have sprung forward, 
had not Betsy Harker eaught her and whispered in her ear 
words that thrilled her with delight. Before the captain 
could recover himself and give further orders, a company 
of cavalry dashed forward, and in a shorter time than it 
takes to tell it, a miniature battle was in progress before 
the house. When it was over, the wounded on both side3 
were brought in, and kindly cared for by the two brave 
women. Among them was Captain Fowler; and I often 
think of what he must have suffered when my great- 
grandmother was bending over him and treating him as 
though there had never been any but kindly feelings be- 
tween them. As soon as possible, my great-grandmother and 
her lover returned to town and were quietly married at the 
home of Mrs. Duncan’s mother, my great-grandmother’s 
dear friend. My Tory grandfather, as I call him, would 
not see them ; and they remained with Mrs. Duncan’s 
mother until the war closed, when they went South to the 
home of ray great-grandfather’s family. The dress worn 
at the ball and in which my great-grandmother faced 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


147 


death for the sake of him she loved, was also her wed- 
ding dress. Do you see now, why I cannot wear it; 
and why I fear the family ghosts would rise and protest, 
should I do so ? ” 

“Yes,” said Margaret; “and I think you are right. It 
would seem almost wicked to do it.” 

“ Stuff and nonsense ! ” said Adele. “ If it was my 
dress, I would not let a thing of that kind keep me from 
enjoying it and getting some good out of it.” 

“ I think Cousin Helen is right not to wear it,” said 
Bessie. “ Don’t you, papa ? ” 

“ Considering her view of ghosts, yes,” said Mr. Carter, 
smiling. 

“ But, papa, you know she is not really and truly 
afraid of ghosts ; but was it not grand ? You must hear 
some more of Cousin Helen’s stories. Did you not like 
this one ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Mr. Carter, who thought he had not en- 
joyed an evening so much for a very long time as this 
one, spent with his young people. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


A NEW, STJRANGE THOUGHT. 

M RS. DUNCAN'S tea-party was a success. At least 
every one who attended it said so, and it is gener- 
ally understood that such a verdict is conclusive. Mrs. 
Duncan herself “ looked as though she had stepped out 
of some old picture,” as Helen expressed it when the af- 
fair was being discussed afterward. “ But there were 
others too who looked so, and some of them were very, 
very lovely. I don’t think I can ever enjoy anything 
more than I did that.” 

“ Where in the world did Mrs. Duncan get all her old* 
furniture ? ” asked Adele, who, not fearing nor caring for 
ghosts, had gone with George Washington and wife, as 
Nellie Custis. 

“ It has all been in her family for years,” said Helen. 
“ Do you know,” said Margaret, “ I could not look at 
that weak-looking, dandified fellow, who took the char- 
acter of George Washington, without thinking of what 
you said, and I wondered how he would have acted if 
suddenly informed that the enemy was approaching, or 
how he would have managed that trip across the Dela- 
ware. I rather enjoyed fancying what the celebrated 
personages who. were represented there would think of 
their thin, weak shadows, could they have seen them.” 

148 


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149 


“ I hardly know if we have a right to judge of others 
in that way,” said Helen, thoughtfully. “ The Bible says, 

‘ Judge not, that ye be not judged.’ It may be, you know, 
that the ‘ dandified fellow’ possesses some fine traits to 
which even the Father of his Country could not lay 
claim.” 

“ I believe, Cousin Helen,” said Bessie, “ that you 
could always find excuses and something good to say of 
every one.” 

“ Nonsense ! ” said Adele. “ Helen dislikes people just 
as much as any one ; and she turned and faced her as she 
asked : “ Did you have anything to do with that fearful 

get-up of Mr. Edmands ? I scarcely felt like speaking 
to him.” 

“ No, I had no idea what he was going to wear ; but I 
saw nothing fearful in it. It is just what any country- 
man would have worn ; and he did behave so like one. 
For some reason, I hardly know why, I have always been 
half afraid of him before ; but when he greeted me in his 
funny way, and told me he had ‘ jes’ cum down frum 
Holler Hole, Varmount, ’ith a bar’l of maple an’ some 
bar skins ; and thet he seen th’ light ’s he’s apassin’, an’ 
cal’clated es how they’s hevin’ a quiltin’ bee or a apple 
parin’, an’ he jes’ stepped in ter see th’ folks,’ it took all 
that feeling away entirely. He was so funny all the 
evening, I think it did Mrs. Duncan good to see and hear 
him. But then she enjoyed the whole thing.” 

“ I am glad I was there,” said Margaret ; “ and I am 
more than glad I did not dress as I first intended.” 


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THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


Both Margaret and Helen had, by their unassuming 
characters, won more real, true admiration, than they 
would had they done as so many of those about them, and 
assumed characters for which they were not fitted. More 
and more closely were they drawn together during the 
month that followed ; and although Margaret was the older 
of the two, she allowed herself to be led and influenced in 
many ways by the quiet little Southern girl, whose earnest 
life was having such an effect on those about her. As the 
time drew near for them to separate, Margaret begged 
earnestly that Helen would make her a visit before she 
went South ; but Helen was looking forward anxiously 
and eagerly to seeing “ dear John,” and nothing could 
tempt her to defer the time of her departure. 

Such bright, happy letters as she received from him now 
too. There seemed so much to thank God for ; and when 
one day she learned that her Aunt Hannah had actually 
been to the house to see Maud, who was sick, she threw 
herself on the bed and cried for joy. She knew John 
had persuaded Maud to go with him, soon after her own 
departure, to see the old lady, and she knew that since 
then, the girl had spent many of her spare hours there, 
and in her humble way had gone to the old lady for help 
and advice in the new position she had assumed ; but she 
did not realize the full significance of it until she knew of 
her aunt’s visit to the house. Then she thanked God 
heartily, and prayed that he would keep her dear ones 
safe, and make her more worthy of all the blessings he 
was bestowing on her. Her happiness reflected itself in 


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151 


her face to such an extent, that her uncle asked her, a few 
days before she was to leave, if it made her so very, very 
happy to think of going away. Putting her arms lovingly 
about his neck and kissing him, she said : 

“ Uncle, I think you will understand me, when I say 
that though I can never thank you enough for letting 
me come here, and for all you have done for me, yet it 
makes me very, very happy to think of seeing dear 
John again.” 

“ And it makes me very sad to think of losing the little 
household angel who has been with us so long,” said her 
uncle, tenderly. 

“ I wish I could take you all home with me,” said 
Helen, smiling. “ I would like you to know John, 
uncle. I am sure you would like him.” 

“ If he is like his sister, there would be no danger of 
anything else.” 

“ But he’s ever, and ever, and ever so much nicer,” said 
Helen, warmly. 

“ I do believe you two people are making love to each 
other,” said Tom, entering at this moment. 

“ No use to make it,” said Helen, indignantly. “ It’s 
here;” and she gave her uncles hand an affectionate 
squeeze that made Tom laugh. 

“ I say,” he said, abruptly, “ I wish you would let 
some of these fellows make love to you here, and marry 
one of them, so you could stay here always.” 

“ I marry ! Oh, Tom ! ” and she burst into a merry 
peal of laughter. 


152 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“Why not, I’d like to know?” said Tom, gruffly. 
“ You’d make a better wife than half the girls fellows do 
take.” 

“But, Tom,” said Helen, more seriously, “you forget 
dear John. I could never leave him.” 

“And suppose ‘dear John’ gets married himself! 
What then ?'” 

Instantly Helen’s whole manner changed. Her face 
became very white, and with a gasp she sat down, and 
looked iu a bewildered way at Tom. 

“ Hello ! What have I done now ? ” he asked. 

“ I I don’t quite know,” she said, in a confused 

way, as she rose and* added, “ I must go and think.” 

“ H’m ! I’ve done it now,” murmured Tom, when she 
was gone ; “ but I don’t know what. Do you, father ? ” 

“ I’m afraid Helen has never thought of the possibility 
of her brother’s marrying; and the idea is not one she 
can contemplate calmly at first.” 

Tom was troubled, the more so when Helen did not 
appear at dinner, nor again that evening. He could 
not quite understand why his remark had so completely 
upset her ; but he knew, when he saw her in the morn- 
ing, that she had really suffered. While she was just as 
thoughtful of others, there was a look in her face that 
made him feel uncomfortable. He was wondering if he 
would bungle again, and only make matters worse if he 
said anything, when she spoke herself. 

“ Tom,” she said, coming straight to the point, “ I 
suppose you thought it very strange in me to act as I 


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153 


did yesterday ; but John and I have been so much 
together, and he has been so all-sufficient to me, that the 
thought has never struck me before that he might ever 
care for anything different.” 

“ And, I say, I’m sorry I said what I did. I wish I’d 
cut my tongue out first.” 

“ I’m not sorry, Tom ; because, you know, I ought to 
think of such a thing, and I’m glad I could do it first 
away from John, when he would not know how hard it 
was for me.” 

“Well, but he may never get married, after all, you 
know.” 

“ Don’t say that, Tom. You see, since I have thought 
about it, I can see how happy it would make him. He’s 
had a life full of care, anxiety, and trouble, and, as long 
as I can remember, has had to give up his own aims and 
ambitions for the sake of others. I suppose, because I felt 
it was a burden he could not question, I have not thought 
of its being removed, and other things given in its place ; 
but all things are possible with him who has imposed the 
burden, and since I have thought of dear John in a home 
of his very own, with a wife who would help to make it a 
happy one, I can but hope it may come to him some time, 
and I shall pray earnestly that God may open the way.” 

“You seem to forget yourself now.” 

“ Ho, Tom ; but, you see, I will always have dear 
John’s strong, true love, whatever happens. Do you 
think I would deserve it, if I wished to keep from him 
some great happiness?” 


154 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


Tom said nothing for a moment, and when he did 
speak his brows were knit as he said : 

“ I sometimes think, Helen, that it must come natu- 
rally easier to you to act unselfishly than to others.” 

Helen smiled, but made no answer to this ; and, before 
many days, Tom was wishing again his tongue had been 
cut out before he had made such a remark. 

By luncheon time, Helen’s face was bright and happy 
once more ; for the time was drawing nearer when she 
should see the brother who was so dear to her. On her 
way from her drawing lesson that morning, she had pur- 
chased some simple little gifts to take South with her ; 
but she knew her own work, in the way of drawings, 
would please her brother more than anything else she 
could take him. She had put her whole heart and soul 
into her work, and, in consequence, had succeeded beyond 
her own expectations. It was pleasant to think of John’s 
surprise, and her mind was full of pleasant anticipations, 
when Adele rushed into her room, in great excitement, 
to tell her that she and her mother and father were to 
sail for Europe in less than a week ; the house was to be 
closed, and Tom and Bessie sent to boarding school. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


A STRUGGLE. 

** TTFHY, Bessie dear,’’ said Helen, putting her arms 
» » tenderly about the child, who had thrown her- 
self across her bed, and was sobbing convulsively. 

“ I can’t help it, Cousin Helen,” said the child, brokenly; 
“ but, I don’t want papa to know.” 

“ Then, tell me all about it, and let us talk of it 
together.” 

For a moment, the child could not speak, but clung to 
Helen as though fearful every instant she would leave 
her, and Helen gently tried to soothe her, guessing at the 
trouble, but knowing it was best the child should speak 
of it herself. She had been a good deal worried over 
this sudden decision of her uncle, not on his account, 
but on account of Tom and Bessie ; but she knew the 
same thoughts had troubled her uncle as well, and she 
would not add to his anxiety by speaking of them. It 
was Tom, however, of whom she had thought more par- 
ticularly, and now here was Bessie to be considered too. 

“ If Tom and I could only stay here at home ! ” she 
sobbed. 

“ Perhaps it won’t be so hard to go to school, after all,” 
said Helen. 

“ If Tom and I could go together,” she said, “ I would 

155 


156 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


not mind so much ; but with him away, and all the 
others, and you too, I expect I shall just want to die.” 

“ Hush, dear, don’t talk like that.” 

“ You don't know how it makes me feel. I wish Adele 
did not want to go so awfully.” 

“ Why, Bessie ? ” 

“Because papa say3 if she would stay at home, he 
could arrange it so that Tom and I could stay here too. 
That would be ever and ever so much better than the 
other ; but he promised Adele she could go the next 
time he went, and now she won’t think of anything else. 
If I could only be with Tom, and if we could only stay 
here at home ! It would be very lovely ; but I know papa 

must go, and that mamma must go with him, and 

and Cousin Helen, what am I to do away from every 

one I love ? ” 

“ There is One who will be with you, dear, wherever 
you go. Don’t forget that.” 

“ I tried to talk to him awhile ago, but he had gone 
so far away, I could not.” 

“ No, dear, that was you, not he. He is nearer to 
you than ever now. Let us talk to him together.” 

Simply as a child, she asked God to help the 
little one by her side to feel his nearness, and to be 
willing to see things as he would have her see them. 
Without a word, Bessie put her face up and kissed her 
cousin ; then lay back with closed eyes, as though in 
silent prayer. 

“ I don’t quite know how I am to do without you to 


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157 


help me, ” she said sadly, when she looked up. “ I wish 
you were my real, own, true sister. I don’t think you 
would go away then, if you knew.” 

Helen started, as a sudden thought struck her, but 
she would not put it into words ; nor would she think of 
it if she could help it. It clung to her, however, 
making her uncomfortable and absent-minded, so that 
at dinner, Adele, full of her own delight at the prospect 
of a trip abroad, became impatient, and spoke sharply 
to her when she made some embarrassing blunder. The 
sight of Bessie’s face, with its patient, half-startled look, 
only confused her still more, and caused Tom to wonder 
if anything had been said to make her feel uncomfort- 
able. Thinking it better to turn her thoughts from her- 
self to another, he said to her after dinner : 

“ I say, Helen, you know I don’t mind about myself. 
It’s all right for me to go to boarding school now. I 
know it, and shall try to behave like a man about it ; 
but there’s Bessie ! She’s so nervous and worried with- 
out some of the family about, that I’m afraid she will 
really be sick. I don't suppose it would do to think of 
asking Adele to stay at home ; do you ? ” 

“ No,” said Helen, soberly, adding with a look Tom 
never forgot : “ I’ll try to think of some other way.” 

That night was one of the most uncomfortable Helen 
had ever spent. For hours she sat before the fire trying 
to ease her conscience, and persuade herself that she 
was not called on to do this thing. No, no, she must go 
back to John. He needed her and she needed him. 


158 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


Her home and heart were with him, and surely she 
could not be expected to give up what was more to her 
than going abroad was to Adele. No. They were not 
her brother and sister ; and John, her brother, would be 
so much disappointed. Surely she was not called upon 
to do this thing. She leaned her head upon the table by 
her side, and tried to think of other things ; but Bessie’s 
sorrowful face would force itself into her memory, and 
with it would come an anxious dread lest the child 
should really be taken sick, as Tom suggested. She 
tried to pray ; but instead of words, there came a great 
longing for something it seemed impossible to express. 
In time she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion, with her 
head still resting on the table ; but she woke with a 
sudden start, and found Bessie by her side. 

“ I can’t get to sleep,’ ’ said the child, sadly. 

“What is it, dear?” asked Helen, taking her into 
her lap and hugging her tightly. She was startled at 
the child's looks, and could feel her trembling. 

“ It won’t let me go to sleep.” 

“ What, Bessie ? ” 

“ The big eyes.” 

“ What big eyes ? ” 

“ There’s a teacher at the school where I’m going that 
has them. They follow you just everywhere. I saw them 
once when I went there with mamma, and they fright- 
ened me. I see them now, every time I shut my eyes ; 
and I can’t go to sleep.” 

“ Suppose you try it here, with me, ” said Helen. “ Let 


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159 


me put you in my bed, and then, with me by your side, 
perhaps you can forget the eye3. After all, they may 
turn out to be kind, pleasant ones, you know.” 

“ Do you think so ? ” asked the child, eagerly. 

“ I should not wonder at all.” 

“I don’t think I would mind quite so much if I 
thought that,” said Bessie, “ and I will try to think it 
now ; but, Cousin Helen, did every one you loved go away 
and leave you with strangers when you were as young as 
lam?” 

Gently Helen soothed the child until she fell asleep, 
and then her thoughts once more went back to self. She 
knew by this time what it would be right for her to do ; 
but she could not make up her mind to do it cheerfully 
and willingly. She could not give up self entirely. The 
next morning she was unusually quiet at breakfast, and 
started out to her drawing lesson earlier than usual. 
She did not want to speak to her uncle until she could 
do so cheerfully. When she did speak, it must be in a 
way that would convince him that she had fully made 
up her mind, and was in earnest about what she pro- 
posed. Hoping that a morning’s healthful work would 
help her, she tried to put her whole heart in it ; but it 
was useless, and giving up the attempt, she turned her 
thoughts to one who, she knew, had fought similar 
battles, and come off victorious. To Mrs. Duncan’s she 
went, and throwing herself at her feet, and looking im- 
ploringly into her face, said : 

“ I have been trying to make my will God’s will. 


160 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


Ask him to help me make his will mine, cheer- 
fully.” 

With one hand resting on the bowed head before her, 
and the other held tightly by her companion, Mrs. Dun- 
can prayed so earnestly and believingly, that it seemed 
to Helen almost as though her prayer was answered, 
before expressed. When it was over, she felt as though 
the gentle voice of her Lord and Master had been 
heard, saying to her troubled soul : “ Peace, be still ; ” 
and a feeling of rest had come to her that showed itself 
in her face, when she raised it again. 

“ I can't tell you how that has helped me, ” she said, 
“ but I must be sure of myself before I act. Will you 
let me tell you just what the trouble has been ? ” 

Very simply she told of the change of plans in her 
uncle’s family, and of the struggle she had gone through 
herself. 

“ It may be, you know, that God has been preparing 
me and others for this very thing, ” she said. “ At one 
time I could not have stayed, for I was needed at home ; 
but since I have been away, Maud, my step-sister, has 
learned to keep house, and to look after things so nicely, 
that I am not actually needed for that. I mean, you 
know, that I am really more needed here. I tried to 
think the other way, at first, because I did so want to see 
John ; but I see now how selfish that was, and I know I 
would never forgive myself if I did go home and left 
Bessie and Tom just when they needed me — after all 
uncle’s kindness too. I don’t see now how it took me 


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161 


so long to see that it was one way God offered me of 
showing uncle I appreciated what he has done for me. I 
must hurry home now, and see him as soon as he comes 
in, so that he need not worry about Bessie and Tom.” 

She spoke so cheerfully, and seemed so thoroughly in 
earnest, that any one else might have thought her 
struggle had been less severe than it was ; but Mrs. Dun- 
can knew the girl well enough by this time to guess at 
the full extent of it, and as she was bidding her good- 
bye, said : 

“Brother John will love his sister more than ever, 
now that she has taken up so cheerfully these new duties 
laid before her.” 

A bright, happy smile was her only answer ; but when 
her son came home that day, she said : 

“Could you not look up some business matter that 
might give you an excuse to send on for the brother ? ” 

“ The very thing. I’ve got hold of something now,” 
said Mr. Duncan, “ that he might make something of, if 
his talent is what I think it is. At any rate, I can send 
for him and see. We’ll see. Keep it as a surprise for 
Helen.” 

“ Would it not seem a pity to deprive her of the 
pleasure of anticipation ? ” 

“True. You are right, as you always are, mother. 
We won’t take from her a moment’s pleasure.” 


L 


CHAPTER XIX. 


THE UNSELFISH DECISION. 


ITH a lighter heart than she had possessed for several 



» » days, Helen hurried home, wondering at the 
change ; for it had seemed only a few hours before, as 
though her weary, burdened heart was ready to break. 
But he to whom all things are possible, and who is ever 
ready to hear the cry of one of his little ones, had 
changed everything, and the rough road had been made 
smooth. 

Her uncle was not at home when she returned, but in 
the sitting room she found Bessie with a sad little face 
that tried to put on a smile. The attempt was such a 
signal failure, that Helen could scarcely keep back the 
tears as she drew the child to her and said, gently : 

“ I think I’ve found a way to keep you and Tom to- 
gether, dear.” 

“ Oh, Cousin Helen ! ” she said, nervously. “ How ? ” 

“ Will you let me stay and take care of you, if father 
is willing ? ” 

“ You — you, Cousin Helen ! I thought you were so glad 
to go home.” 

“ I did not know of this, then.” 

“ And you would really stay here with Tom and me 
instead of going to your own home ? ” asked the child, 


162 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


163 


anxiously, her large eyes looking searckingly into her 
cousin’s face. 

“ Yes, dear, I would not be happy to go there now and 
leave you and Tom. Understand, Bessie, it would make 
me happier to stay here than to go home.” 

Bessie did understand, and the tears came thick and 
fast as she laid her head on her cousin’s shoulder and 
cried softly for a few moments. 

“ It’s because I’m so glad,” she said when she could 
speak, “ and because I do love you so. I can never tell 
you how much.” 

Already Helen was thankful, for Bessie’s sake, that 
the Lord had given her strength to conquer, as she had, 
in the battle she had been fighting with self. In her 
simple childish way, Bessie began at once to talk of what 
they would do and where they would go, planning little 
trips that she thought would please Helen. In the midst 
of this, Tom appeared, and with wide-open, excited eyes, 
Bessie sprang toward him, and catching one arm in both 
her hands, began hurriedly : 

** Tom, Cousin Helen says she’s going to stay here 
while the others go away; and we’re just going to have 
the best kind of a time.” 

Tom looked questioningly first at Bessie, and then at 
Helen, who replied with a smile : 

“ If your father is willing.” 

“ And you’re not going home at all ? ’ 

“ Not at present.” 

“ Well, I say it’s mighty good of you to think of it, but 


164 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


I don't think you ought to do it. Going home is as much 
to you as going to Europe is to Adele, and no one expects 
her to give that up. It’s Bessie I mind, of course, for I 
can get along ; but I’m afraid she’ll get sick or something, 
you know. It would be a mighty nice thing I can tell 
you, but it don’t seem right to me.” 

Bessie had left Tom and had gone back to Helen and 
nestled close to her as though fearful she might leave at 
once. Helen could feel her actually trembling as she 
put an arm about her reassuringly, when she said : 

“ Tom, I am quite sure that I would rather stay here 
than go home ; and you must help me persuade your 
father to let me do it. Suppose we see if we can find 
him now.” 

Tom saw that she was thoroughly iu earnest, but made 
no further comment until they were on their way down 
stairs, when he said : 

“ I can’t thank you for this, Cousin Helen; but the 
Lord will make it up to you some way, I suppose.” 

Mr. Carter was rather taken by surprise at the propo- 
sition made to him, and was at first inclined to refuse to 
have anything to do with it. It was mortification enough, 
he said, to have another offer to do what his own daugh- 
ter could, under no consideration, be induced to do. 
Very earnestly Helen pleaded that it would be a great 
pleasure to her, and that it would be so much better for 
Tom and Bessie. Mr. Carter knew that, but he also knew 
with what delight Helen had looked forward to being 
with her brother. It was Tom, in his offhand way, who 


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185 


settled the matter ; and as they were leaving, Mr. Carter 
said softly, so that only Helen could hear : 

“ Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” 

Three days later, down in Carolina, a young girl was 
weeping bitterly over a letter she had just received. It 
was Maud ; and John, in his quiet way, was trying to 
soothe her. 

“ I can’t think she wanted to come home so much, or 
that she loved us so much as I thought she did,” said the 
girl, “ or she would never have stayed.” 

“ It was no want of love for us, Maud, but a desire to 
do the Master’s work that has kept her. I do not think 
it was easy for her at first ; but he had given her the 
work, and she has not only accepted it, but has accepted it 
cheerfully. Don’t you think we ought to be glad to have 
her do it, and try to make it easy for her ? She has tried 
to keep us from knowing just how hard it has been to 
give up seeing U3. You know how full her letters have 
been of it lately.” 

“ And this one,” said Maud, indicating the one that 
had caused her unhappiness, “ is one of the dearest and 
loveliest I ever read. It was so good in her to write to 
me at the same time she did to you. I wish I was half as 
thoughtful. Brother John,” — she had learned to call him 
that at his own request lately, — “ why is it, that no matter 
what happens, she always seems cheerful and happy?” 

“ One reason is, that she is always doing something to 
make others happy.” 


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THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


I wish I could do it, and do it as cheerfully as she 
does,” said Maud, sadly. 

“ You do more of it than you think,” said John, who 
knew something of the struggles with self that the girl 
had been called on to make lately, struggles that were 
forming her character, struggles such as all are called on 
to engage in, when no compromise can be effected, but 
when it must be victory or death to self. He had 
watched anxiously the results, for he had taken a deep 
interest in her, and had discovered traits that he particu- 
larly admired, and that gave promise of much that was 
good in the future. 


CHAPTER XX. 


John's visit. 

TN less than a week from the time the European trip 
-*• was decided on, the travelers were off, and Helen, 
wuth her two charges and a widowed aunt of Mrs. Carter, 
were all who constituted the family in New York. Mrs. 
Belvin, the aunt, was a sufferer from rheumatism, and 
seldom left the house ; but her presence took the weight 
of responsibility from Helen. She had been greatly 
saddened by sorrow and suffering, and as old age crept 
on, lived more and more in the past, caring little for the 
present, and taking no interest in the progress of the 
world, or its aims in the future. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Carter had felt that it would never do to leave Tom and 
Bessie alone with her ; but with a fresh, bright, younger 
life to counteract the effect of the more sober one, they 
were content. Mrs. Carter had thanked Helen very 
warmly for her unselfishness, and there had been tears in 
her eyes as she bade her good-bye, and called her a noble 
girl. To Helen’s surprise, Adele had come to her the 
night before they left, and had talked as she had never 
talked before. 

“ I suppose,” she said, “ I ought to tell you that I am 
rather ashamed of , myself for going away and leaving 
you here ; but I just can’t give up this trip, even though 

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I know I might go a few months later, if I stayed at 
home now. There is no use in my wishing to be good, 
or to do any better than I have done, for I just can’t.” 

“ I wish you would not talk so, Adele.” 

“ You must let me do it, though ; for there have been 
some things on my mind lately that it would be much 
better to speak of, so just let me talk and have it out. 
When you came here, I expected to find you a doll that 
I could dress up and play with as I chose. Instead, 
you have proved to have ten times more principle and 
character than I. There was an inclination to laugh at 
some of your ‘ notions,’ as I called them ; but I admire you 
for them now, and I can understand how one’s heart and 
soul can be so full of good works that there is no room 
nor time for what are called worldly pleasures. It may 
seem strange to you, but the very fact of your never 
pretending to lecture me has had more influence over 
me, and has done more to show me the ‘ error of my 
ways’ than a thousand and one lectures could have done. 
Your silent example was the most effective thing you 
could have said. Your influence in our home too, has 
not been unnoticed by me. The affection of Tom and 
Bessie for you has shown me how often I have failed as 
a sister. I have learned some lessons too, as to caring too 
much for appearances. I have always been ashamed of 
that time in the store when I passed you by unnoticed, 
because you were with that queer-looking aunt. I don’t 
think I would do it now, though the scene still almost 
makes me laugh when I think of it. You have done us 


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169 


all good, Helen, and I could not go away without telling 
you. Sometimes I think I would like to be as good as 
you are ; but I do not know that I shall care enough for 
it to make an effort, though I am glad I told you all about 
it. I suppose I ought to be jealous of you, because every 
one admires and likes you, and because you would be 
missed in the house here more than I ; but somehow I 
can’t be. There, don’t let’s talk that way any more. 
I’m tired of it. Come, it’s our last evening at home for 
three months, let us try to have a good time, and forget 
anything uncomfortable. I suppose there will be a host 
of people here to say good-bye.” 

She started off with a laugh, and the subject discussed 
was not referred to again ; but Helen thought of it often 
after Adele was gone, hoping and praying that she 
might decide to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” 

From Margaret she had parted with sincere regret, 
for she had grown very fond of her, and had learned to 
look for a visit from her every night before retiring. 
These visits were helps to both the girls, and now Helen 
missed them; but she devoted herself to her drawing 
again, spent much of her time with Tom and Bessie, and 
paid frequent visits to Mrs. Duncan. Twice Mr. Edmands 
had come in the evening, and brought something to 
interest them all ; once an old Koman jewel, whose his- 
tory was interesting ; again an Indian wedding dress, 
cut in its queer, “ paper doll shape,” as Bessie said, but 
heavily covered with bead "work. His account of his 
travels in the Indian country of the West, and of the 


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way in which he came into possession of the dress, was 
like a fairy tale, Bessie told him. 

“ I do hope he will come soon again,” she said. “ I 
like him better than any one else who visits us.” 

Helen laughed at her enthusiasm ; but she had noticed 
that Mrs. Belvin too, was interested in what he had said, 
and hoped herself that he would soon repeat hi3 visit. 
But one of greater interest to her yet was coming soon. 
She learned of it first through a letter from John him- 
self, saying that he would be in New York on a certain 
day, and would probably make her a visit of a week. 
She read the letter first in her own room, and, with a 
quick cry of joy, buried her face in her hands, and 
poured out her thanks to him from whom all good things 
come. How happy the thought made her ! It seemed 
as though every one else must be happy too ; and for two 
days she went about without an idea that they were not. 
By that time Tom’s grum, dissatisfied look attracted her, 
and she at once tried to discover the cause of it. It was 
some little time before she could do so ; and then it was a 
shock to think that John’s coming could bring anything 
but pleasure to any one. 

“You see, we’ve had you all to ourselves, and we kind 
of feel as though you belonged to us. Now he’s coming, 
and you’ll care more for him. I say, I wish there was 
some place I could stay while he’s here. I did not 
mean to tell you, but you would know,” he said, a little 
gruffly. 

“ I’m so very, very sorry you feel in that way,” said 


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171 


Helen, with a disappointed look. “ I thought you would 
be glad to have him come, and I hoped you would make 
it pleasant for him while here.” 

“Well, I shan’t. He won’t need any one but. you. 
I’m glad, for your sake, he’s coming ; but I’d just like to 
be out of the way.” 

Helen hardly knew just what to say, and thought, per- 
haps, it would be wiser to say very little, but to trust to 
John himself to make it all right, for she felt sure Tom 
would like him, when he once knew him. It worried 
her to think he should feel so ; but she did not mean to 
let it affect her pleasure in seeing John, feeling sure it 
would come out right in the end. 

The next day brought John himself, but on an earlier 
train than that on which he was expected. Bessie was the 
only one at home, except Mrs. Belvin, who was confined 
to her room that day, but she tried to welcome him as 
she thought Helen would like her to. She had taken 
him to the sitting room, and was conversing in a most 
friendly manner when the door opened, and Tom ap- 
peared. 

“ This is Tom, I know,” said John, stepping forward, 
and holding out his hand. “ I am very glad to meet 
you,” he added, when Tom, taken by surprise, allowed 
his hand to be shaken, “ and to be able to thank you 
personally for all you have done to make Helen’s stay 
here pleasant.” 

There was something so honest and sincere in the face 
of the man addressing him, and something so manly and 


172 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


strong in the form, that Tom could not help admiring 
him, though he noticed that his clothes were not of the 
newest and latest style. All this combined to make 
him respect him, and replying, with equal honesty, he 
said : 

“ I am afraid it is some one else you mean. I have 
never done much to make it pleasant for her.” 

“ I suspect we know more of that at home than you do 
yourself. Your name is quite a household word with us. 
Maud and I often talk of you, and she sent you all kinds 
of nice messages, because of your kindness to Helen, 
whom she loves very dearly. She almost feels as though 
she knew you, and would be glad to know you better. 
Perhaps you can hunt me up a photograph to take back 
■with me. By the way, I have brought with me a crayon 
drawing of Helen’s mother. I intended to have it as a 
surprise for her when she came home, but we must let 
her enjoy it now while she i3 here. Will you go with me 
some time and help select a frame ? You’ve become a 
sort of brother too, you know, and I’d like you to share 
this pleasure with me.” 

This was the man Tom had wished to avoid. He was 
thoroughly ashamed of himself now, and in his straight- 
forward way would doubtless have confessed all and 
apologized, if Helen herself had not appeared just at 
that moment. Tom never forgot the glad look that came 
into her face when she first saw John. He quietly 
slipped out of the room, a sudden, strange thought com- 
ing to him. Would it ever be possible for Bessie to be 


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173 


so glad to see him ? When he was next alone with Helen 
for a moment, he said at once : 

“ I say, I was a brute to say what I did yesterday. If 
you’ll try not to think of it I will be glad. John’s a 
trump. I take back all I said, and I’ll try my best to 
help him have a good time.” 

“Thank you so much, Tom,” said Helen, laying a 
hand on his arm. “ I felt sure you would like him when 
you knew him.” 

How rapidly the week passed, and how much pleasure 
they all got out of it too ! There were so many places 
to which to take John, who thoughtfully devoted his 
mornings to business, leaving his afternoons free, when 
Tom and Bessie, as well Helen, could go about with him. 
One day they all dined with Mrs. Duncan, and another 
day Mr. Edmands, who had called on John, at once in- 
vited them to dine with him at Delmonico’s, after taking 
them to one of the private picture galleries. That was a 
particularly interesting experience to Bessie, though she 
insisted upon it, they would all have enjoyed it more if a 
certain Mrs. Wardner, whom she did not like, had not 
been with them. One of the greatest pleasures Tom had 
from this visit was selecting the frame for the crayon 
portrait which John had showed him. 

“ I say,” he began “ bother ! I promised Helen I 

would try to give up beginning all my sentences in that 
way, and there it is again ; but, I say, would you mind ; 
no I don’t suppose she’d like it so well.” 

“What ? Tell me what and of whom you are speaking.” 


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THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ No. Best not.” 

“ I’m not quite sure of that. I suppose f she ’ means 
Helen?” 

“Yes; I was only thinking that I’d like a partnership 
arrangement about that frame business. I thought per- 
haps you would let me foot half the bill, or something ; 
but I guess she would like it better the other way. So 
it's all right, you know.” 

“ I’m not at all sure that Helen would prefer it in that 
way. It would be a great pleasure to her to know that 
you even thought of such a thing, and if you really wish 
it, I shall be very happy to have you join me in giving 
her this little bit of happiness.” 

“ Ho you really mean it ? ” 

“ To be sure, I do.” 

“ Then, I say 1 am glad to know you, sir,” and he 

gave John’s hand a shake that said as much as the 
words. 

The picture was hung when Helen was out, and then 
Tom considerately kept out of the way, giving her a 
chance to see and thank John alone. His own share 
came in due time, and well repaid him for what he had 
done, for he had taken the money he had laid aside for 
a new tennis racket in the spring. 

Never had a week seemed to slip by so fast. To Helen 
it went by so rapidly that she was startled ; but as great 
a treat as it was to have her brother with her, she did not 
allow his presence to interfere with any duty that might 
affect another. She had one or two sick people whom 


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175 


she visited regularly, one at the hospital, and one in a 
small room on one of the back streets near her home. 
The latter was a young girl who earned her own living 
as a clerk. She had retused to go to a hospital when she 
was first taken sick, because she said her father, who was 
all she had in the world, had given up drink only a few 
months before, and it was easier for him to stay at home 
at night if she was there. She did not mind being sick, 
she said, nor being without comforts, so long as he was 
all right. Helen took John here with her when she 
knew the father would be at home, hoping that he might 
do or say some little thing that would be remembered. 
And he did speak words so helpful and full of hope that, 
as they were leaving, the father took him by the hand, 
and said : 

“You have done us both good, sir, and I hope where- 
ever you go, your life may be a happy one. Your sister, 
sir, comes and goes like one of those gentle spirits whose 
very presence is a blessing.” 

Another time Helen took John to the hospital, where 
she knew he would make himself remembered by some 
suffering soul. Thus, she was constantly giving others 
an opportunity of benefiting by his visit, never letting 
even him know how she longed for more time herself for 
good home talks. She could only get these in snatches, 
but they were enjoyed when they did come. 

“You have found out,” said John, on one of these 
occasions, “ that everywhere you go, there will be work for 
the Master. I can see and understand what you have 


176 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


done here better than you can yourself, dear, and it 
makes me very happy. I never doubted, for an instant, 
that you would find something to do; but when I see 
what a blessing you have been ” 

“Don’t say that, please, John. I’ve been rebellious 
at times, and have found it hard to do what I knew the 
Lord had given me. He has always made it easy for 
me, though, when I have found courage to do it, and he 
has given me so much to make me happy. Your coming 
here alone is so very, very much to me.” 

To her delight and surprise John told her, before he 
left, that his trip had done much for him in a business 
way, and might be the means of giving him work of the 
kind he preferred to farming. He could not tell posi- 
tively just yet. 


CHAPTER XXL 


THE SHADOW OF DEATH. 



( N one of those bright sunshiny days that come to us 


in winter, and make us feel glad that we are alive, 
Helen and Bessie started out for a walk, little dreaming 
of the sad scene that would attend their home-coming. 
The occasion was an accident that seemed to paralyze 
those who saw but could not prevent it. Bessie had 
stumbled and fallen on a crossing just as a horse sud- 
denly turned the corner. With wonderful presence of 
mind, Helen had sprung forward and caught the bridle 
tightly with both hands to turn him aside ; but the horse 
had reared, carrying her up in the air only to bring her 
down again with great force. Prompt as the action was, 
there were those who believed, as they drew the uncon- 
scious child from under the horse, while her heroic older 
companion swung in mid-air, that the one heavy foot that 
had touched her had been accompanied by the hand of 
death. Those who carried the child to the nearest drug 
store, believed it a question whether the girl who had 
tried to save her would be picked up alive. Indeed, Mr. 
Keener, an elderly gentleman, who caught her as she 
loosened her hold of the horse, shook his head sadly as 
he carried her insensible form to the sidewalk. It 
seemed to him that she must be seriously injured; but 


M 


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she opened her eyes, and looking anxiously about, 
asked : 

“ Where is she ? ” 

“ I will take you to her if you think you can bear it,” 
he said, seeing by her face that nothing else would satisfy 
her. 

“ Let me walk, please. I would rather.” 

“ Then lean on me, never mind how hard,” said Mr. 
Keener, encouragingly. “I can carry you, if neces- 
sary.” 

“ She was not hurt ? ” she asked, wincing herself, 

and uttering a half-stifled groan. 

“ A little yes ; but where are you hurt ? ” 

“ In my hands and arms ; but it is nothing.” 

Mr. Keener feared there were further injuries, of which 
she scarcely knew yet, but he spoke a few encouraging 
words, and as soon as they reached the place where Bessie 
had been taken, insisted on her taking something before 
she went to her cousin. 

“ Only a glass of water, please,” she said, as the faint, 
dizzy feeling caused her to sit down on the nearest seat. 
It did not prevent her hearing an order given by her 
companion, and looking up quickly, she added : “ No, I 
could not take it. Nothing but water, please. I must 
go to Bessie.” 

“ I cannot let you go to her until you have taken 
something to strengthen you. If I give you what I can 
assure you has no alcohol in it, will you trust me and 
take it? ” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


179 


She looked him fuli in the face, as though she would 
judge him by that, and then said simply: 

“ Yes.” 

In an inner room they had laid Bessie on a couch, and 
-when Helen entered, she stole softly to her side, and 
slipping to the floor laid her head on the pillow by the 
side of the child’s, and said softly : 

“ Bessie dear ? ” 

Anxiously she listened and watched for the result ; for 
the closed eyes and white face had caused a great fear to 
spring up in her heart. She had not thought of anything 
so terrible as this. A faint groan answered her, and a 
trembling little hand moved as though feeling for some- 
thing. Mr. Keener saw the drops of perspiration come 
out on Helen’s face as she pressed her lips together and 
slowly raised one hand until she could lay it on that of 
the child. A tall, spectacled man, who had been trying 
to examine Bessie, here turned to Helen, and asked her 
name and residence, and then said something in a low 
tone to Mr. Keener. 

“ Will you please send for a carriage and get us home 
as soon as possible,” said Helen, looking up, “ and tele- 
phone for Dr. Taylor to be there.” 

“ We must send some message home before the little 
one goes, so that the mother may not be shocked,” said 
Mr. Keener. 

“ Her mother and father are both in Europe, and there 
is no one at home but an invalid aunt, who need not 
know anything of this until I can tell her myself.” 


180 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


The two men exchanged glances, and then the older 
one, looking down at the child, said : 

“ Is there no friend you would like sent for ? ” 

“I think Mr. Duncan ought to know,” said Helen, 
thoughtfully. 

“ What Duncan ? ” asked Mr. Keener, “ Charles Dun- 
can ? ” 

“Yes.” 

“ I’ll go for him myself, if you’ll promise not to at- 
tempt to leave here till I return with him. What physi- 
cian did you say ? ” 

“ Dr. Edward Taylor.” 

“ I know him too, and I’ll bring him with me. In the 
meantime I leave you in good hands here. Hope for the 
best. Everything shall be done that can be.” 

Entering the outer room, Mr. Keener was surprised to 
find himself face to face with Dr. Taylor. Telling him 
as briefly as possible what had happened, he led him into 
the room where the two girls were. Eagerly and anxi- 
ously did Helen watch his face for any signs of hope or 
encouragement, as he carefully and tenderly examined 
the child. At times she would moan piteously, but even 
then Helen could read nothing in the doctor's counte- 
nance, and could only silently pray that the child might 
be spared, and that her sufferings might not be severe. 
When his examination was over, the doctor rose, and 
approaching Mr. Keener said, with a very sober face : 

“ I cannot tell very decidedly until I get the child 
home and examine more carefully. I will telephone to 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


181 


Drs. Harvey and Lansom to meet me there, and I will 
see to getting the child there while you go for a trained 
nurse, and — you said you were on the way to find Mr. 
Duncan as well as me ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Then bring him too.” 

* £ What is your opinion now, from what you have 
seen ? ” 

“ If there are internal injuries that I fear, the child 
will not live twenty-four hours ; but if it is as I hope, 
she will live, but it will be months before she will be 
able to walk.” 

A stifled cry caused the doctor to turn quickly and 
see Helen standing by his side. He had not intended 
that she should hear what he had been saying ; but 
knowing that she had heard it, he spoke to her as to one 
he felt sure would bravely meet whatever the future had 
in store. He had been impressed with her conduct in 
her uncle’s sick room, and was able to judge somewhat 
of her strength of character now. He found, however, 
that she made a better nurse than patient, for when he 
expressed a wish to examine her hands and wrists, she 
objected, saying that amounted to nothing, and it was 
only keeping them from Bessie. He found it necessary 
to tell her she might render herself perfectly powerless 
to aid the child, if she did not let him look after her 
injuries. 

“You do not think that?” she asked, anxiously, as 
she allowed him to carefully remove her coat. 


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THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ I think/’ he said, examining the swollen hands and 
wrists, “ that unless you do just what I wish with these 
hands and arms, it will be a long time before you can 
minister to your cousin as you did to her father.” And 
without farther question, he cut the sleeves of her dress 
up to her shoulders ; for it would have been utterly im- 
possible to have drawn them over her swollen hands. 

“ She will need me so ! ” said Helen. 

“ You forget that if it were not for this, she would 
never need you nor any earthly help again. If she lives, it 
will be due to your presence of mind and courage. Every- 
thing shall be done for her that can be done; but we 
must look after you, too, knowing what a fine nurse you 
are. We shall need you, and the sooner you are able 
.” He saw that she was fainting, and stopped. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


A LONG NIGHT. 

I T was a sad household Mr. Duncan found when he 
entered his friend’s home, for Bessie was a favorite 
with every one in it, and even the servants met him with 
tears in their eyes. Helen had told Mrs. Belvin of the 
accident; but the old lady took such a mournful and 
hopeless view of it, that she did not feel called upon to 
stay with her long. 

“I knew it,” she said. “Something of the kind always 
happens, wherever I go; but I am getting to expect it, 
and it makes very little impression. One less in the 
world, to suffer as I have done. That is all. I will just 
stay in my room, and wait patiently until it is all over. 
You can send my meals to me, and let me know when 
the end comes.” 

After having gone through so much, Helen felt that 
she could not stand this, and hurried away that she 
might have courage to meet Tom ; but he had arrived 
while she had been with Mrs. Belvin, and had heard of 
the accident from Mr. Duncan. They met in the hall, 
outside Bessie’s room, and Helen knew at once that Tom 
had been told. Her hands were bandaged, and in a 
sling ; but she went up to him, intending to say some- 

183 


184 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


thing to him. Instead, he put his arms around her care- 
fully and kissed her, as he said, brokenly : 

“ They tell me, if she lives, it will be you who have 
saved her.” 

She could feel the big tears dropping on her face as 
he spoke, and she said quietly : 

“ It will be God’s will, either way, Tom.” 

“ Then pray, Helen ; pray as you never prayed before, 
that he will not take her from us.” 

“And you, Tom. Will not you pray too? ” 

“ If I thought it would do any good ” 

“ Try it, Tom.” 

“ I will.” 

The door opened at this moment, and Dr. Taylor came 
out, and said : 

“She is conscious now, and is asking for you, Miss 
Helen.” 

Thinking at once of Tom, she looked from him to the 
doctor in a questioning way, which the doctor understood 
at once. 

“ One at a time,” he said, kindly. “ I shall give Tom 
some work soon, and when she is rested a little, and will 
not be much excited, he can go in.” 

“Can’t you hide my hands, in some way?” she asked, 
in a troubled way. 

“She knows,” said the doctor; “you need not be 
afraid of that. Keep up your courage and hope for the 
best.” 

Two strange physicians came out of the room as Helen 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


185 


went in, leaving only the nurse, a bright, pleasant look- 
ing woman, whose snow-white cap and apron gave a 
fresh, helpful look to Her whole appearance. She was 
on her knees by the side of the bed when Helen entered; 
but she rose at once, and coming toward her, said : 

“ She wants to be with you alone for a while, and she 
wants you on the bed by her side. You must let me 
help you get there. I will have to wait on you as well 
as on her, for a while, that you may be able the sooner to 
do for her what I know you would like.” 

Without a word Helen allowed herself to be almost 
lifted and laid on the bed, Miss Harlan saying, as she 
did it : 

“ I will be in the next room, should you want me.” 

“ Do your hands hurt very, very much ? ” asked Bessie, 
raising one of hers, and laying it lovingly on Helen’s 
face, that was very close to her own. 

“ They will soon be all right, dear,” said Helen, trying 
to speak without an effort. 

“ And you do not think I will be ? Cousin Helen, that 
is why I asked for you. I knew you would tell me the 
truth, and would not try to deceive me. Am I going to 
die?” 

“We trust God will spare you to us, dear; but should 
he want you in his own beautiful home, you would not 
be afraid to go ? ” 

“Afraid? No, Cousin Helen, not that; but I have 
only learned to love God lately, and I have done so little 
for him. I hoped I could do so much ; but if he wants 


186 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


me I am willing to go. You will stay with me until he 
sends for me; and then, you know, it will be all right? ” 

“Yes, dear; I will be with you as long as you need 
me.” 

“ Dear father ! Do you think it would make heaven 
seem more like home to him to have his little Bessie 
there waiting to welcome him? I heard one of the doc- 
tors say something about my not being able to walk if I 
got well. Cousin Helen, I would not mind that for 
myself ; for I would try to live like Mrs. Duncan, and 
make every one else so happy that I would forget all 
about myself ; but poor mamma could not stand it, you 
know. She can’t bear to have any one sick about her, 
and I heard her say once she could not live in the house 
with any one like Mrs. Duncan. When Mrs. Duncan 
was talking the other night about the whole world being 
better because some people had lived in it, I thought of 
you, and wondered if I would ever be able to help so 
many people, and make them love me, as you have. I 
can’t now, you know; but you will tell father and 
mother that I was glad to go, if God wanted me.” 

“ I trust God will spare you to us all a long time yet.” 

“ I am hurt in so many places, I don’t see how I can 
get well. I thought I was dying once, before they 
brought me here ; but you seemed to speak to me and 
call me back.” 

“And you’re better now,” said Helen, cheeringly. 

“ It’s all coming back,” said Bessie. “ I can feel it, 
and I want to see Tom first.’ - ’ 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 187 

Helen started to get up, but Bessie’s little band 
clutched her, as she said : 

“ Don’t leave me. Call, and she’ll come.” 

It was not necessary to do that, however; for Miss 
Harlan opened the door, and knew in a moment that 
they wanted her. 

“Find Tom, her brother, please,” said Helen. 

The scene, that followed was one Helen never forgot; 
the brother and sister each trying to be brave and cheer- 
ful for the sake of the other, and Bessie talking so 
sweetly to the brother she loved. At last, speaking in a 
lower tone, she said : 

“ You know how Cousin Helen tried to save me. Tell 
father, from me, that I would like him to care for her 
always, for my sake.” 

“All right, and I say, Bessie, I ain’t much more 
than a boy ; but I promise you she shall be taken care 
of, some way. Perhaps you and I can do it together, 
you know.” 

For a moment Bessie’s face brightened, and then she 
said : 

“ I am afraid not. It’s all coming back again, and I 
could not stand it long, you know.” Turning to the 
nurse she said, a little anxiously, “You will not take 
cousin Helen away ? I want her right here by my side, 
and if I don’t know anything else, I shall know if you 
take her away.” 

Miss Harlan promised that she should remain, and 
then there was a gasp, a spasm, and for hours it seemed 


188 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


as though an angel was ready at any moment to carry 
off the spirit of the little sufferer. Then followed a long 
night of anxious watching and waiting. Neither Dr. 
Taylor nor Mr. Duncan left the house, and Helen could 
not be persuaded to leave Bessie’s side. They brought 
her food and nourishment, and bathed and dressed her 
aching hands and arms, but she would take nothing to 
induce sleep. She must have every sense alert and be 
ready for what might come. At times, Bessie would be 
conscious and know them ; but it would not be long, and 
she would always ask Helen not to leave her, and would 
seem to find rest and comfort in having her hand on her 
cousin’s face. Helen lay with her face very close to the 
child’s; and when, in her unconsciousness, she would 
moan more piteously than usual, Helen would call her 
softly by name, and the little hand would go up in a 
helpless way. At such times, either the doctor or nurse 
would lay it gently on Helen’s face, and the moans would 
cease as Helen spoke in a low tone words that seemed, 
in some strange way, to reach and soothe the child as 
nothing else could. Helen knew that if Bessie lived till 
morning, the worst danger would be passed, and gladly 
she hailed the first signs of dawn, feeling more hopeful 
than she had done, and when Tom came to the bed, and 
burying his head by her side, groaned aloud, she spoke 
words of hope and comfort that went to his heart, which 
was so full he could not quite keep back a broken-hearted 
sob. The sick child was just gaining consciousness, and 
heard him. 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


189 


“ Tom,” she said, looking around for him. 

Instantly he was himself again, and had gone to her 
side. 

“ Do you want anything, Bessie ? ” he asked. 

“ Don’t cry any more,” she said, as he lightly, lovingly 
let his hand rest on her head. “ I think God’s not going 
to take me away from you just yet.” 

Tom tried to speak, but could not, and only leaned 
over and kissed her. 

“ If I’m sick and can’t walk for a long, long time, you 
won’t mind, like mamma would, Tom ? ” 

“ Mind,” said Tom, slowly, “ I’ll only mind when you 
let some one else carry you around, and when I think 
you are afraid to let me know you want anything I can 
do for you. I say, Bessie, I don’t want you to forget 
that you have a brother who loves you.” 

“ Thank you, Tom. I didn’t quite know — whether you 
would mind — you know. It rests me now, and if I could 
sleep a little, I might feel better.” 

A moment later the doctor was by her side with a 
sleeping draught, and said : 

“If you will take this now, I think you will sleep 
quietly, and perhaps Cousin Helen will take some 
too.” 

“ You won't take her away? ” she asked, putting out 
her hand, as though she would detain her. 

“No, she can sleep just where she is for the present.” 

“ She makes it easier for me to bear the pain, when it 
comes,” explained the child, and she took the medicine, 


190 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


saying, afterward : “ Cousin Helen, I am glad you can 
sleep too.” 

The tears were rolling down Helen’s face, which she 
tried to hide. The nurse, Miss Harlan, came to her aid 
and whispered words of hope. Hope ! With what joy 
that word came to the household later in the day, when 
the three physicians had been in consultation again. 
Mrs. Belvin refused to take the responsibility of any- 
thing, and Helen, disabled as she was, found it necessary 
to constitute herself the head of the house, Mr. Duncan 
and Tom volunteering to assist her as far as they could. 
The former offered to write at once to Europe, and to do 
so in a way that would alarm them as little as possible ; 
for the doctor had said it was very important that Mr. 
Carter should not think of returning at present. If 
Helen thought she could stand the pain, he would prefer 
having the child under her care for a time, as she seemed 
to have such a wonderful influence over her. 

“ The first thing for me to do to-day,” said Mr. Duncan 
to Helen, “ is to find a maid for you. You will need one 
to wait on you for some time, now.” 

“ Do you think so ? ” she said, regretfully. “ I would 
so much rather not. I am not used to such things, and 
have never had any one to wait on me but my old 
Mammy Tot.” 

“ The very one ! ” said Mr. Duncan, quickly. “ I’m 
glad you mentioned her. I will send for her at once.” 

Helen looked up so surprised that she could not say 
anything, and her companion asked: 


THE SOUTHERN COLSIN. 


191 


" You would like to have her ? She would be a com- 
fort to you ? ” 

“ Oh, yes ; but 

“ No buts,” said Mr. Duncan, who saw in a moment 
that the old woman was the one to have. “ If you want 
her she shall come.” 

“She might not be able to leave her family,” said 
Helen, hesitatingly. 

“ Don’t be afraid of that. She commissioned me 
to be sure and send for her, if you needed her, and I 
can’t let her reproach me some day when she finds this 
out.” 

“ You won’t frighten John ? I can get Tom to write to 
him for me.” 

“ Trust me there, Miss Helen, and leave as much else 
to me as you can. Your uncle left you in my care, and 
I intend it shall be good care. Don’t worry over Mrs. 
Belvin. She has had a singular life, and acts a little 
peculiarly at times; but I know something about her, and 
feel sure that in a few days she will take all the house- 
hold cares on herself ; but I doubt if she will have any- 
thing to do in the sick room.” 

It proved to be as he had said ; and it was a great help 
to Helen when she did take some things into her own 
hands. Then came Mammy Tot. Helen put her head 
on the old woman’s shoulder and wept as she had not 
done before. 

“ Dat ’ll do ye r heaps o’ good, honey,” said the old 
woman, reassuringly, “ an’ yer kin do de same ting wen- 


192 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


somever yer’s a mind; like yer ’s de ever wee mite ob de 
little chile wot Is toted roun’ many ’s de time.” 

To Bessie, Mammy Tot proved a source of constant 
pleasure. There were times when she could interest her 
in outside matters, and often then she would get the old 
woman to tell something of her Southern life in her 
quaint, odd way, and if she could have Helen and Tom 
both with her then, she was very happy. 

An’ I’s proud ter wait on any o’ my young missus’ 
kin,” said the old woman on one occasion ; “ ef it ain’t 
aben fur ’er I reckin I neber would a keered en de right 
way ’bout de kingdom.” 

“ Did she teach you to love God, too ? ” asked Bessie, 
with some interest. 

“ Not zactly dat, honey, but she done tole me dat he 
ain’t way off dar somewar when I’s prayin’, but dat ef I 
kin see troo de vail, I gwine fine ’im right dar by my 
side, same’s ef I kin rech out my han’ and tech ’em. 
Dat how she done holp me ter fine ’em ’out gwine way 
off dar whar I done know nuffin ’bout de place. Lor, 
honey, dat done me a heap o’ good, an’ holp me wid de 
little tings dat I’s a tinkin befo’ ain’t gwine ter make no 
manner o’ difference ter him, when he ’s so fur away.” 

“ I think it is so lovely, too, to feel that he can care 
for and protect us at any moment, and that he does it 
when we know nothing of the danger ourselves. Mammy 
Tot, Cousin Helen helps so many people to know about 
it in a way they never did before. I think it is because 
they can’t help seeing she is all in earnest. She talks 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


193 


as though she knew everything she said was just so, be- 
cause she had tried it, and she talks to God so beautifully. 
It don’t seem to me that God can help answering her 
prayers, for she asks as though she knew he would, if it 
was best.” 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


TRYING FOR REST. 


f HE first month of Bessie’s sufferings was a sad, weary 



-i- time for all who were with her ; for it was hard to 
see her suffer, and it was pitiful to see the effort she made 
to repress her feelings, that Tom and Helen might not 
know how great the trouble was. But they knew more 
than she suspected, and it was an experience that brought 
out some of Tom’s fine qualities. He had grown up with 
feelings that were perhaps more thoughtless than selfish, 
but that had threatened, in time, to become the latter. 
Now there was a decided change, and Helen and Bessie 
knew that they were the first thought with him. The 
affection between the brother and sister grew very strong, 
and showed itself in many little ways that were not to be 
forgotten. Tom always went at once to the sick room 
when he came into the house. If it was one of her good 
times, as she called them, Bessie would say : 

“ All right, Tom,” and he would go in, with some funny 
remark, and sit by her side and tell of something he had 
seen or heard that would make her laugh and forget her- 
self. But for several weeks these were exceptional times, 
and more often he was greeted by an attempt at a smile 
that would cause him to approach the bed very quietly 
and kneel by the side of it with words very different 


194 


THE SOUTHERN COUSTN. 


195 


from those used during the “ good times.” Bessie looked 
forward to his coming in either case, and there were 
some things she would never allow auy one else do for her. 

“ I think Tom would like it,” she said to Helen once, 
and Helen had understood and encouraged the feeling ; 
and Tom had liked it, and when she had once or twice 
sent for him in the night, he had loved her all the more, 
and had told her so. 

Bravely as Helen had borne her own sufferings at first, 
during the shock and excitement, there had come a time 
when she could control herself no longer, and when for 
two days she had lain by Bessie’s side almost as helpless 
as the child herself. Besides the sprains she had received, 
there had been bruises and strains in other places besides 
her hands and arms, and it was thought quite wonderful 
by some that she had not been killed by the violence 
with which she had been wrenched from the ground and 
thrown back again. During this time, Mammy Tot was 
a great comfort to her, waiting on her and encouraging 
her in a way that reminded her of her childhood. As 
she grew better, it was a great trial to her not to be able 
to wait on Bessie ; but her presence and kind, loving 
words were very grateful to the child who could still 
scarcely bear to have her out of her sight ; and yet there 
were times when she had suffered more or longer than 
usual, when she would say : 

“ Cousin Helen, will you please go away and lie down 
where you can rest? Tom is with me now, and it’ll be 
all right. I’d like it so much if you would.” 


196 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


The first time this happened, Helen had left the room, 
but finding something that needed attention, had occupied 
herself with it. Bessie found it out, and her disappoint- 
ment was so great that the next time Bessie asked her to 
go, she did as the child wished, and was surprised to find 
how much fresher and brighter she felt Bessie saw it 
too, and would repeat the request whenever she thought 
Helen was not feeling so well as usual. 

“ I can see it in your eyes,” she w T ould say, “ though you 
try your best to hide it.” 

During this time there were many expressions of 
sympathy and many dainty, delicate things in the way of 
flowers and fruit sent to the house. 

“I don’t see what does make people so kind to me,” 
said Bessie one day, when Tom had brought up stairs with 
him a basket of fruit that had just arrived. “ Do you 
know, I like the things Mr. Edmands sends better than 
any others, because he always has something for Cousin 
Helen, if it’s only a single flower, all by itself. He seems 
to know just what we like best ; and yesterday he sent the 
dearest little note, all to me that was, with a message for 
Cousin Helen.” 

Helen, too, thought Mr. Edmands knew just what to 
send and how and when to do it ; and though she did not 
see any one who came to the house except Mr. Duncan 
and Mr. Keener, who came very regularly to inquire, 
and who were allowed at times to see Bessie herself for a 
few moments, she soon got into the habit of going down 
stairs to see Mr. Edmands when he came Sunday after- 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


197 


noons to inquire for Bessie. It was several weeks after 
the accident before she did see him, and then Bessie had 
begged her to do so, and to thank him herself for the 
things he had sent. After that, it became a regular 
thing for her to see him at that time, if Bessie was able 
to do without her. One afternoon, when she had greeted 
him, she said : 

“ I am sorry I cannot leave Bessie to-day ; but she i3 
suffering more than usual. Would you mind, very much, 
doing something that I think might help her ? ” 

“ Certainly not, if it is anything I can do.” 

“ She is very fond of music, and once or twice I have 
found that singing softly would soothe her. I thought 
to-day, if you would try the organ, perhaps it would 
help her. I will leave the door3 open so that she can 
hear.” 

It was late in the afternoon, and the shadows in Bessie’s 
room were crowding out the light when she first heard 
the organ. Helen was lying by her side, as she always 
did when she was suffering, and she could just see the 
change in her face as it lighted up and she asked : 

“ Who is it ? ” Then quickly added, “ Mr. Edmands ? ” 

“ Yes, dear. Do you like it? ” 

“ Oh, so much ! Listen ! ” 

For a long time she lay perfectly still, absorbed in the 
music ; and then came the words of that beautiful hymn, 
“ Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me,” when she started and 
seemed to listen as though she was afraid of losing a note. 
When it was over, she called Tom and asked him if he 


198 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


would go down and thank Mr. Edmands before he left, 
and tell him how much good the music had done her. 

“ It rests me so,” she said. 

When Tom did go down, he said, in his abrupt way ; 

“ If you’d been up stairs when you first came and could 
go there now, you’d know something of the good you’ve 
done. Bessie had one of her attacks that would have 
lasted till bed time, partly nervous, you know ; but now 
she’ll go to sleep and will be all right when she wakes. 
She told me I was to thank you and to tell you it rested 
her ; but I don’t know how else to do it.” 

“ The thanks are due to your cousin, Tom. She sug- 
gested it.” 

Tom’s eyes sparkled as he said : 

“ Well, I say, now, did you ever meet any one who 
knew as she does how to to ease other people’s bur- 

dens ? I was thinking about it to-day, and I just came 
to the conclusion it was because she lives so close to God, 
she can’t help it.” 

*• How do you mean, Tom ? ” 

“ I mean that she does live nearer to God than some 
of us. You can’t help feeling it after seeing her as I’ve 
done lately. To hear her pray! I’ve heard her twice, 
and it was just as though she was talking to some one 
in the room with her — some one whom she loved and 
trusted. I shan’t forget it in a hurry. I’ve written her 
letters for her lately, and I’ve found out a good deal 
about her that way that I would not otherwise have 
known. She has a kind of sister who’s not a sister ; but 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


199 


she writes her the most beautiful letters ! They do me 
good, if they don’t her. I tell you there’s something 
about Helen that makes you want to be better and 
better, the longer you live with her.” 

This letter writing was particularly pleasant to Tom. 
It seemed to show him a little of her home life ; for the 
letters to John were sent very often, and sometimes in 
the return letters there would be enclosed a note for him, 
or one for Bessie. When the time came that Helen 
could do her own letter writing he really missed his 
former occupation, and found himself asking innumer- 
able questions about people and things. To his delight, 
he found an ever ready listener in Mammy Tot, who de- 
lighted in telling him of the Southern home and of “ ole 
Missus’ family.” 

When Bessie was able to be moved with any comfort 
to herself, a rolling chair was provided, and a day was 
chosen for her to try it when she was as free from suffer- 
ing as she ever was now. She was to be taken into the 
sitting room on “the trial trip,” as she called it. Helen 
had provided a pretty blue wrapper for the occasion, and 
she looked very bright and happy as she was dressed 
and waiting for Tom ; for she would not think of start- 
ing until he came. It was quite a procession that did go 
then, and a merry one too ; for each member was deter- 
mined that Bessie should not think of the sad part of it, 
if it could be helped. As Mammy Tot, who headed the 
procession, opened the sitting-room door, Polly said, in 
her deepest and slowest tones; “Wa — a — lk in,” add- 


200 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


ing, in a moment, in high, quick notes, “ How do you 
do?” 

“Oh, how good that sounds!” cried Bessie, excitedly. 
“ It seems almost as though nothing had happened,” she 
added, a little more soberly. 

Once in the room, she was interested in the flowers, that 
did seem to have grown so fast ; but she found she could 
not stay long, and soon had to ask Tom to take her 
back. It was the beginning of better things, however ; 
and when a telegram called Miss Harlan to a sick sister, 
Helen insisted that there was no need of supplying her 
place, as she and Mammy Tot could do all that was neces- 
sary, with the help of Tom, and occasionally Mrs. Belvin, 
who found her rheumatism less trying and exacting as 
spring approached. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


A VISIT FROM MRS. DUNCAN. 

O NCE able to leave her room, it seemed as though 
Bessie had made a rapid stride toward recovery ; 
but there were trying days to follow, when pain and suf- 
fering would return, and sadden the hearts of those about 
her. Helen’s eyes would often fill with tears as she com- 
pared the white, delicate-looking child with the rosy, 
healthy little thing who greeted her so sweetly the night 
of her arrival. It would be a long time yet before she 
could put her feet to the ground, and Bessie knew it, 
but never once did she murmur; and on one occasion 
when she was suffering, and Tom made a hasty remark 
that he did not seem able to repress, she looked up and 
said, earnestly : 

“ Don’t, Tom. God is taking care of me, and he loves 
me. He will not let me suffer more than is best.” 

As spring approached, and the physicians decided that 
Bessie must leave the city as early as possible, Helen 
turned at once to Mr. Duncan for help. He had settled 
many a vexed question for her before, and she felt sure 
he would this. But it was no easy task to find a place 
that would just suit the child ; for they had no desire to 
go to a regular summer resort, and yet she must be 
where she could have the same comforts as at home. For 

201 


202 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


several weeks Mrs. Duncan was busy corresponding in 
regard to places of which she would hear, and some of 
which her son would go and examine for himself ; but 
nowhere had they come across just what they wanted 
when Mrs. Duncan remarked, one day: 

“ Suppose we try to find some private place somewhere 
for rent. I think it would be better for them all, if they 
could have something of that kind. You might adver- 
tise ” 

“No need for that,” said her son, rising quickly. “I 
know the very place. Cheston Demming told me to-day 
that he was preparing to go abroad, and wished I’d rent 
his place, and take you up there for the summer — said 
he would rent low for the sake of having it well taken 
care of. It was stupid in me not to think of this. Its 
the very place. If we hunted a month longer, we could 
not get a better — cool, fine scenery, every convenience, 
and charming neighbors. I’ll hurry off and catch him 
before his train leaves. Good-bye.” 

Helen’s surprise was great when she heard that Mr. 
Duncan had rented a country place for them. At first, 
she hardly knew whether to be pleased or not, fearing 
that her uncle might not approve of their incurring such 
an expense. 

“ Don’t worry over that,” said Mr. Duncan, when she 
mentioned it. “ I intend to make this a joint affair, so 
that you and I will have as much interest there as your 
uncle, or any of his family. I want a place where I can 
go to spend the night, or bring a few friends and stay 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


203 


several days. I could not select a place that would suit 
better ; and toward fall, when my mother has been to see 
her niece, I shall want to take her there. You are to 
have the same right as I, and can send for your brother 
and a half-dozen other members of your family, if you 
wish, to spend the summer with you. I’ll see Mrs. 
Belvin about the housekeeping. She shall have charge 
of it, and shall be head of the house in that way, just 
as she is here. I’m not sure but it is a pretty good thing 
for that rheumatism.” 

Bessie was delighted at the idea of having a whole 
house to themselves, and horses and a carriage. 

“ Won’t it be lovely ! ” she exclaimed. “ Oh, I’m sure 
I will get well fast there. I wish papa was getting well 
faster.” 

The last letters they had received had been rather dis- 
couraging ; for Mr. Carter, after having grown better at 
first, had suddenly grown worse, and the physicians had 
ordered him elsewhere, and said he must not venture to 
return home for several months. He had written to them 
regularly himself until the last week, when he had dic- 
tated a letter ; but it wa3 a very bright one, full of hope 
for the future, and of loving messages for the dear one3 
at home. He had never been allowed to know the ex- 
tent of Bessie’s injury, and no one would have dreamed, 
from the pleasant letters that were sent across the ocean, 
that there had been any serious trouble at home. 

Bessie saw more people now, and was very much inter- 
ested in the preparations for their departure for the sum- 


204 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


mer. She wanted to know everything that was being 
done, and would suggest things herself that she thought 
would benefit them all. To her great delight, the week 
before they were to leave, Mrs. Duncan came and spent 
the day with her. It was never until the clear, mild days 
of spring came that she dared venture out of the house, 
and this time her first outing had been to visit Bessie. 
To the child it was a rare treat ; for she felt that here 
was one who knew what she had been, and still was, 
going through. 

“ It is not quite so bad for me as it is for you,” said 
Bessie, “ because they tell me I need only have a little 
patience and I can walk again as I used to do.” 

“ You won’t think it hard some day when you look 
back on it, dear. You’ll see then how it has helped you 
and others. Perhaps I could point out something of that 
myself for you now. Have not you and Tom been 
brought nearer together ? ” 

“ Oh, yes,” said the child, as the tears came into her 
eyes, “ and it is so nice. I can’t thank God enough for 
that. You see we did always love each other some, but 
we didn’t think so. Cousin Helen says it was because we 
never talked about it and told each other so ; but we do 
now, and it is so good. I believe Cousin Helen was right.” 

“ 1 am quite sure she was, my dear ; for there are many, 
many persons who lose a great deal of happiness from just 
that cause. They do not think it necessary to tell people 
they love that they care for them, and they neglect little 
things that would show it in other ways. Somehow the 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


205 


world seems to be full of happiness that is deliberately 
pushed aside to make room for misunderstandings and 
discomfort. We don’t recognize it when it is within our 
grasp. We all have hard lessons to learn, murmuring 
often over fancied troubles and inviting great ones. As 
for me, Bessie, I would not now change my condition for 
yours, because I know it is best for me as it is ; and yet 
when my trouble first came I complained and rebelled, 
declaring I would rather die than live, and praying God 
to take me where there was no such trouble. I thank 
God now that he was merciful enough not to answer that 
prayer, but to let me live to show him that I repented 
and was willing to live in any way he thought best. 
You have patiently accepted his will from the first 
and ” 

“ I never would have been able to do that if Cousin 
Helen had not lived with us this winter and taught me 
how. She lives so that you can’t help feeling that she 
knows what she talks about. It always did me good to 
have her near me when I was suffering. Do you suppose 
I could ever help any one as she helped me ? ” 

“Begin with the little things, the small, every-day 
things, and you need not fear for anything else.” 

“ I think that is one way in which Cousin Helen does 
so much for people. She always finds something, if it’s 
ever so little, that she can say or do for them. I’ve seen 
her look at people in a way that would give them courage 
to do something unpleasant. Mrs. Duncan, don’t you 
think when people live in that way and you know their 


206 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


lives are true, honest ones, that they help everybody 
about them to be better ? ” 

“ Yes, dear, we all exert an influence for either good 
or bad upon those with whom we come in contact.” 

“ I used to think that was dreadful, for it seemed to 
me we must help others to do so much that is wrong ; but 
now I think, since I have seen how much Cousin Helen 
has done for others, without knowing it, that it is a grand 
and beautiful thing.” 


CHAPTER XXV. 


SURPRISES. 

* * ELL, Miss Helen, now we are ready for guests, 
' » whom do you expect to entertain first? ” 

It was Mr. Duncan who spoke, and they had been a 
week in their country home. Bessie had stood the 
journey as well as they could expect ; but had been con- 
fined to her bed for two days after. Now, however, she 
was able to be moved about, and thoroughly enjoyed 
being rolled from room to room examining the views 
from each, or being taken to 'the broad veranda, which 
extended around two sides of the house, where she could 
sit in the sun, and where “ Polly and I can take in the 
fresh air and enjoy the beautiful view,” she would say. 
Already she was beginning to improve, they thought, and 
they were very hopeful ; the physicians assuring them 
that much depended now on her general health and the 
rapidity with which she gained strength. She must have 
pleasant society, Mr. Duncan thought, and had done what 
he could for them in the neighborhood. It was this that 
caused him to question Helen about her visitors ; but her 
answer was such that he said, in some surprise : 

“ I thought you understood that you had a right to 
invite whom you chose,— just as much right as I. You 
know how I get my right ? ” 


207 


208 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“Yes, Mr. Duncan, I know that you kindly arranged 
to bear part of the expenses.” 

“ And that gives me some rights here, does it not? ” 

“ Of course it does.” 

“ Well, you have the same rights, obtained in the same 
way.” 

“I ! ” she exclaimed, looking at him questioningly. 

“ Yes, you. Part of the expenses here are paid in your 
name.” 

“You ought not to do that,” she said, shaking her 
head, soberly. 

“ I don’t do it, Miss Helen ; but it is done by one who 
intended that you should feel at liberty to have any of 
your family with you this summer, or any one else you 
wished, and who would be disappointed if you did not 
show your appreciation of the thought by taking ad- 
vantage of it. I am thinking of sending for your brother, 
to look further into a matter we discussed together when 
he was here. I would be glad, of course, to have him 
for a guest of my own ; but I thought you might like him 
yourself. How is it ? ” 

There were tears in Helen’s eyes as she tried to speak, 
but could not. 

“You must thank the person for me who has done 
this,” she said, at last. “I am afraid, though, John 
could not come on now, for Aunt Han is very ill, and he 
would not leave home until she is better.” 

“ Then you must think of some one else, for we do not 
intend that he should be the only one sent for.” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 209 

“ I think it would be very pleasant if Margaret Parker 
could come.” 

“ That’s good. Now remember, if there is any one else, 
all you have to do is to send for that person, be it man, 
woman, or child.” 

That was the beginning of a summer full of pleasant, 
and some strange and unexpected events. Margaret 
Parker was more than glad to be once more with Helen, 
and became a member of the household for a part of the 
summer. Mr. Duncan brought with him, from time to 
time, people who could interest and amuse the invalid, as 
well as enjoy the country life. The two who came most 
frequently were Mr. Keener and Mr. Edmands. It was 
a pleasure to Bessie to see the latter, who had shown so 
much sympathy for her since she had been sick. After 
his first attempt to soothe her at the organ, he had often 
come to the house about that same time in the evening, 
and, without announcing his presence, had gone to the 
organ and had played that grand old music that cannot 
but be restful to the weary, either in body or mind. Now, 
it was so pleasant to listen to his music, as they sat out- 
side with so many of God’s wonderful works around 
them. 

“ It sounds, sometimes, as though the music must come 
right from heaven,” Bessie said, on one occasion, when 
she was even more impressed than usual. 

There were others who came to Morelands and spent 
a few days ; a young man who had been one of Helen’s 
drawing teachers, but whose health was not of the best ; 

o 


210 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


the girl whom John had visited with Helen, and who, 
with her father, would have been able to take no holiday 
for the summer had it not been for this ; and numbers 
of others, who owed to Helen the only outing they had. 
There were many pleasant visits from people in the 
neighborhood, some of which, occasionally, Bessie, to her 
great delight, was able to return. 

At last John came, dear John, who was so welcome 
and had such strange things to tell. First came Aunt 
Han’s sickness and death. Yes ; she had gone to join 
those whom she loved, and who had preceded her into a 
world without sorrow or sin. To the surprise of every 
one, it was found that she had left considerable property. 
Half of it was left outright to her nephew John, that he 
might be at liberty to pursue any calling he preferred. 
After that came a legacy to Chloe, that would support 
her as long as she lived. The remainder was divided 
equally between “ Helen Carter, my niece,” and “ Maud 
Tyler, my adopted niece.” A letter addressed to Helen 
explained this in part, telling her that her aunt had origi- 
nally intended giving everything to John, knowing he 
would see that she was cared for ; but she had changed 
her mind, and had determined to give her something in 
her own right. 

“ I have tried and tested you in every way,” the letter 
said ; “ for, being deceived once, many years ago, I 
scarcely dared feel that your love for me was natural 
and unselfish. I have loved you more almost than I 
had a right to love any one human, and yet I have 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


211 


treated you in a way calculated to destroy any affection 
you might have for me. Never once have you treated 
me with anything but consideration, and now, to prove 
my love for and perfect confidence in you, I do what the 
world may think strange, but what I know will please 
you. I divide a portion of what I leave behind between 
you and Maud. Like one who had made up her mind 
to follow cheerfully a disagreeable line of conduct, Maud 
came to me after you left, and tried to bring a little 
brightness into my life, because she thought you would 
like it. I knew why it was done, and she found her way 
to my heart better in that way than she would have done 
in any other ; nor did I hesitate to let her see it. Her 
shy, shrinking manner appealed- to me, and her presence 
has always been a welcome one. I am now suffering 
from what I believe I shall never recover. I have sent 
for the child, and will keep her with me to the end, if I 
can. After that, I wish her to be w ? ell educated, and I 
think you will be glad to have me leave her the money 
for it. It is one of the ways in which I prove my love 
for you, and I think you will understand. It will make 
her feel a little more comfortable and independent to 
know it is her own money, and not yours and John’s, that 
is being used. Try to remember Aunt Han kindly, and 
to feel that through everything, and in spite of her ap- 
parent harshness, she loved you very, very dearly, and 
at this moment she would give much to be able to take 
you in her arms and tell you so. She has missed you 
more than she can tell, or than you can ever dream of. 


212 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


The winter has been very lonely without your dear face 
to look upon, but John and Maud have done all they 
could to make up for your absence. Watch over Maud, 
and continue to help her, as you have done, for she has 
the making of a fine woman, and is willing to be guided 
by you.” 

The letter ended with a loving leave-taking, “ for a 
little while,” it said, and then a prayer that the God she 
loved would keep her niece from harm, and help her to 
remain pure and unspotted from the world. 

This letter was a surprise and comfort to Helen, who 
appreciated the trust and confidence her aunt had shown 
in her. It was a great pleasure to her to know that 
Maud shared with her a portion of what her aunt had 
left. It was now that John told her the name of the 
fairy godmother, and it was to her she attributed at once 
her present position as hostess. To her surprise, how- 
ever, she found she was wrong ; nor did she find out to 
whom she was indebted for that. Only Mr. Duncan and 
his mother knew, and they kept the knowledge to them- 
selves. In discussing it, at the close of the summer, Mrs. 
Duncan told her son that she considered it one of the 
finest investments she had ever made. 

John had other strange news to tell. Mrs. Carter’s 
mother had died, and she had decided to go West and 
live with her father. 

“Weeping bitterly,” said John, “Maud begged me 
to let her stay somewhere near us. She is anxious to 
study ; but does not want to be so far away from a cer- 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


213 


tain little sister of mine that she cannot reasonably 
expect to see her occasionally. She thinks if she ever 
amounts to anything — and she has firmly made up her 
mind that she will, if she ha3 to fight for it — it will all 
have been started by you, dear. This is one thing that 
has brought me on just now, Nell. I wanted to talk with 
you before deciding on anything definite.” 

They did talk the matter over carefully, deciding, in 
the end, that Maud should come and spend the rest of 
the summer at Morelands, and that John should accept 
an offer he had received for renting the farm, and should 
at once take up the work he preferred. When fall came, 
they hoped to be together somewhere. 

“ To think, John,” said Helen, “ that my prayer should 
have been answered in such an unexpected way. I have 
prayed earnestly that God would show you some way in 
which you could give up the farm, and do this. I felt 
sure that he would do it some time, though I could not tell 
how. I don’t know how to thank him enough.” 

After more discussion of the subject, Helen asked, 
suddenly : 

“ John dear, don’t you ever think about getting mar- 
ried?” 

“ Why, what has put such a thing as that into your 
head ? ” he asked, putting his arm round her and look- 
ing at her a little curiously. “ I have never been in a 
position yet when I could think much about it.” 

“ But if you were, John, and if you found some one 
you could care for in that way ? ” 


214 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“Then I suppose I should think of it very seriously/’ 
he said, half laughing. 

“ And I think you would be very happy,” she said, 
soberly, though she tried to speak lightly. 

“ That would depend very much upon how we suited 
each other. I might get hold of a terrible temper, 
or ” 

“ Oh, stop, John, don’t talk so. You know you would 
never choose any one like that. I am sure you would 
only like a good ” 

“ Well, dear, there is plenty of time yet to think about 
it. I suppose all men think of it some time in their live3, 
and look forward to it as a thing to be hoped for in the 
future ; but with me, it has been such a vague thought, 
that it has never taken very definite shape. Should it 
ever do so, and should the dear Lord see fit to give me 
so great a blessing as a true, noble wife to share my joys 
and sorrows, would my little sister be ready to help me 
to make her happy ? ” 

He was holding her two hands now and looking ear- 
nestly into her face. 

“ Yes, John, with all her heart,” she said, emphatically, 
remembering the years he had given up to others. 
“And,” lowering her eyes now to hide the tears she felt 
were coming, “ I shall pray God to make that too, pos- 
sible for you.” 

He folded her in his arms, not quite understanding her 
mood, but feeling that in some way she was gaining a 
victory over self. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


SHARING WITH OTHERS. 

M AUD had arrived — a tall, awkward, ungainly girl, 
never at her ease unless Helen was present, or 
unless she could be doing something for Bessie, who won 
her sympathy at once. 

“ I say, Cousin Helen,” said Tom, — “ Bother, I did 
not mean to say that ; but I say, she’s pretty homely, and 
she’s awkward, and all that ; but there is something 
about her I like, and I mean to do all I can to help her get 
over her — bashfulness, you know, and to bring out what 
there is in her, to make people like her. It must 
be pretty bad, you know, to feel sure you are not so 
good-looking as most people, and all that. If you think 
of anything I can do, or that you would like me to do, 
just say the word.” 

“ Thank you, Tom. I am sure you can help her in 
many ways to forget herself ; and that will be a great 
thing for her.” 

“ Then I’ll try, and I say — there it is again — but, I 
say, I think there are other things I can do too.” 

Tom did try, and so did Bessie, to make Maud feel at 
ease, and they succeeded even better than they hoped, 
so that they were soon on a friendly footing, and found 
many things in which they could take a common interest. 

215 


216 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


Bessie was delighted with the barnyard and life there, 
which was new to her. To Maud it was familiar, and 
she found great pleasure in telling Bessie what she knew 
about it. 

“ I wish,” said Bessie, on one of these occasions, “ that 
there was some way we could let the children who never 
see anything of this kind take a peep at it.” 

They were at the back of the house, on a part 
of the lawn where they could see into the barn- 
yard, where chickens, ducks and turkeys were busy 
hunting for food. Near the fence stood a peacock with 
ruffled neck and spread tail, and in the distance, rub- 
bing down his horses, was the coachman, who always 
talked to the dumb beasts he cared for as though they 
were children. 

“ That’s the way he teaches them to know him,” ex- 
plained Bessie to Maud, “ and then they can always 
trust him, you see ; and they are never afraid of any- 
thing when he is with them. Just as it is with us, you 
know, when we are willing to trust God in everything. 
We know that he won’t ask us to do what we can’t do ; 
and with him near us there is nothing to fear.” 

To Polly’s great delight, she was allowed, at times, to 
have all the liberty she wished. Some of her feathers 
had been plucked to prevent her flying ; but she could 
climb, and she took advantage of it, going sometimes 
to the very roof of the house, and calling back in her own 
peculiar way. On this occasion she had taken her po- 
sition on the edge of one of the chimneys, and was laugh- 



The Southern Cousin. 


Page 216. 










































THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


217 


ing and talking in a most animated wav, thoroughly en- 
joying the situation. 

“ It seems to me, sometimes,” said Bessie, “ that I have 
so many more blessings than some other children.” 

“ Now, when you can’t walk ? ” asked Maud, looking 
at her curiously. 

“ Yes, Maud. Just think of all the children in the 
hospitals who can’t be out in this beautiful sunshine, 
with so much to make them forget themselves. They 
are the ones I was thinking of when I said I wished they 
could see some of this. There is so much here, that we 
might divide it up and give a little corner of it to one 
hospital and another corner to another hospital, and 
keep on that way till ever so many children had found 
some of it ; and then you know there are other places 
like this that could be divided up, and then the hospitals 
could exchange ” 

“ Why, Bessie,” laughed Helen, who was making a 
sketch of the peacock, “ do you imagine yourself living 
in days of fairies and magicians ? ” 

“ No, Cousin Helen ; only I do wish I could in some 
way share this with others. If I could only tell them 
about it, now I have seen it.” 

“ Perhaps we can,” said Helen, rising, as a sudden 
thought struck her. 

“I wonder what she means?” said Bessie, when 
Helen had disappeared. 

“ It’ll be something to please somebody, I know,” said 
Maud ; “ but I wonder too, what it is.” 


218 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


When she returned she was carrying an easel, and 
Mammy Tot had a large drawing board, on which was 
fastened some drawing paper. She planted her easel 
where the two girls could watch her at work, and then 
smiling at them said : 

“ See who can tell first what I am doing.” 

For a while neither of the girls said anything, and 
then Bessie cried suddenly : 

, “ It’s the house.” 

“ No,” said Maud, thoughtfully, “it’s too large. She 
could not get it on the paper. I believe it’s part of the 
house, though. Yes, it’s going to be this end of it. 
What is it for, sister ? ” 

“ How do you think it would do to send it to one of 
the hospitals ? You see I am making it large, so that 
the children can see it at a distance.” 

For a moment neither of the girls spoke, and then 
Bessie said, wonderinglv : 

“ I don't see why you do the house, Cousin Helen. 
They have all seen houses; but there are so many things 
here they have not seen.” 

“So you think they won’t care for it. Just wait and 
see. In the first place there is a word picture that must 
go with this, and I expect one of you to supply it.” 

“ That will be nice,” said Bessie, “ and Maud must do 
it. She does tell the loveliest stories, and the funniest 
ones I almost ever heard. That will be splendid.” 

“ Oh, Bessie, don’t,” said Maud, in a distressed tone ; 
“ you know I could not do that. I’ve never been to school 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


219 


much, and I don’t know how to do such things like girls 
who have.” 

“ That don’t make a bit of difference. When I was 
sick, it was good to have the least little thing done to 
show that people wanted to make it easier for me to for- 
get the pain. Just write down some of the things you 
have told me. And I am sure there will be lots of 
sick children who will enjoy it, whether it is written 
right or not.” 

“ But I don’t know what to say.” 

“You will when you think a little. Oh, do look ; 
Cousin Helen is putting Polly on the chimney. I 
believe that is what she did the house for. It was to give 
a chance to show Polly in one of her funny positions. 
Dear old Polly ! Of course, it won’t do to neglect her. 
Now you can find plenty to say.” 

To the surprise of both Helen and Bessie, Maud cov- 
ered her face with her hands and began to sob. Rising 
instantly from her seat, Helen went to her and tried to 
soothe her, asking her, as she did so, what had hurt 
or wounded her. 

“It isn’t anything of that kind,” said Maud, at 
last, looking up through her tears. “ I think it’s because 
I’m glad. I hardly know just what it is. Perhaps you 
can tell me.” And then in her own trustful way she told 
Helen that “ ever since Aunt Han had left the money 
to educate her, she had prayed God to help her in such 
a way that some day she could write stories and 
things that people would like to read. You see, I could 


220 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


not help feeling just now that perhaps he was going to 
begin answering my prayer already. If I could 
write something now that children who have not 
had much education like me would like, would it not be 
splendid? Would not God be good to let me do it? 
You know, sister, I never can be pretty and look 
like most girls that people like to have about ; so I have 
asked God to let me do things that will help people and 
make them glad to know me; and I have asked him 
to help me do them, so that it shall all be to his glory. 
Sister, do you think it would be wrong for me to ask if 
I might grow up with an intelligent looking face ? ” 

“ Are you still worrying over your looks, dear ? Then 
let me tell you how you can grow up with a face such a3 
I would prefer to all others. Live so near to Christ that 
people cannot help seeing the reflected glory. You 
remember how Moses’ face shone when he came down 
from the mountain. So can the faces of Christians take 
on that look that is found nowhere else. Do you 
know what I mean, Maud? Did you ever see such 
a face ? ” 

“ Yes, sister.” 

“ And you like to look at it ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Mrs. Duncan’s face is like that,” said Eessie. “ You 
could not look at it without knowing she lived very close 
to God.” 

“ It seemed to me people must have something attract- 
ive about their faces first,” said Maud. 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


221 


“God’s impress beautifies everything. Ask him for 
that, dear, and you need not worry about your looks any 
more. Leave all that to him.’’ 

“ Cousin Helen,” said Bessie, “ do you think anything is 
too small for us to pray about ? ” 

“No; everything that comes to us, great or small, God 
knows about. I remember once, when I was saying 
I thought something too insignificant to talk to God 
about, that my mother spoke in her own sweet way about 
it, and to convince me she understood just what it was, she 
told me that she had been brought up with so many 
people to wait on her that she felt she need never 
do anything she did not care for ; and among other 
things she never learned to sew as girls do now. When 
the war was over and all the slaves were gone, she found 
it necessary to know more ; and she did try, but nothing 
would look right. She would put things together, but 
they would be so different from what she expected and 
wanted that she would often sit down and cry about it. 
She would not tell her father, because he had enough to 
worry over without that ; but at last she took it to the 
Lord and made it a special subject of prayer. And God 
answered her prayer, so that she soon found things would 
fit together and look right in a way that made her very 
happy. Before she died she was a beautiful seamstress ; 
but she said she never would have been if she had 
not gone to the Lord and asked his help. It is by talk- 
ing to the Lord about the little things that vex us that 
we learn to know him and to put our trust in him.” 


222 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


Helen had gone back to her drawing now, and as she 
worked on Polly, she called up to her and said : 

“ Come Polly, come down, pretty Polly ! ” 

“Polly wants coffee,” was the reply; and then she 
burst out laughing as though she knew how funny it all 
was. 

The girls began to laugh too, when she whistled for 
the dog, a little skye terrier, which rushed frantically 
about trying his best to find out who was calling him. 
At last, he seemed to understand that it was some one 
overhead, and began looking up at the different windows 
and barking little quick, short barks, as though to let it 
be known he heard the call but could not find it. At 
last, however, he discovered Polly ; and then followed 
a frantic rushing round and round, and a succession of 
furious barks that caused Maud to pick him up and say, 
laughingly: 

“ It’s a shame for Polly to tease Tatters so.” 

But the dog would not be quieted until Polly stopped 
whistling and burst out in one of her hearty, infectious 
laughs. She was destined to give more trouble before 
the day was over, for no persuasions could induce her to 
come down from her exalted position. She will get 
hungry, they thought, and come down for something 
to eat. But no. She called constantly for crackers and 
coffee, but would not come down when they were held 
temptingly below. 

“ Cousin Helen,” said Bessie, “ I am really afraid 
she will stay there all night.” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


223 


“ I think she will come down for Tom. He can try, 
at any rate, when he comes home.” 

He was told about her when he did come, and they 
were wondering just what would be the best way to 
persuade her to join them below, when there came 
a noise in the chimney that startled them all. Be- 
fore they could realize what it meant, the words “ How 
do you?” “ Wa-a-lk in,” sounded so natural that they 
were not at all surprised to see Polly herself standing be- 
fore them, shaking the soot from her feathers. Such 
a good laugh as they had. 

“To think of her really coming down the chimney 
and knowing in just what room to come,” said Bessie. 
“ There is something to write about now, Maud.” 

Maud did write about it, telling the story simply, but 
in a humorous way, that was quite irresistible. Tom in- 
sisted on hearing it, and told Helen afterward that 
he believed the children who heard it would be sure 
to want more. He had been told about the project for 
sharing some of their good things with those who could 
not get them as they did, and he had expressed a desire 
to be present when the first picture and story were pre- 
sented. Bessie had also told him of Maud’s desire to 
become an author, and in speaking to Helen of it, 
he said : 

“ I don’t see anything to prevent it, if she lives, for 
God has promised to help just such people. It’s like my 
wanting to be a physician. I love it, and I am willing 
to work hard. Of course, I know something may hap- 


224 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


pen to make it best that I should do something else, as it was 
with John; but I think I can leave all that with God 
now, feeling that if it is right I shall have his help 
to make me succeed. Do you know that since Bessie has 
been sick, I have decided that I would like to make just 
such cases as hers a study ? ” 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


A CALL FOR MAMMY TOT. 

H ELEN’S sketch, accompanied by Maud’s story, was 
taken to one of the hospitals by Mr. Keener, 
accompanied by Tom, who returned with an enthusiastic 
account of the reception of both. Maud sat opened- 
eyed, and listened as he told of one child who had a 
parrot at home, and who had clapped her hands when 
she saw this one ; had cried out : “ Pretty Poll ! Pretty 
Poll ! ” as though she expected to be answered. She 
had laughed until she cried over Polly’s escapade, and 
one little girl who had been suffering for a long time, 
was so pleased that she asked them to come again. 
She was scarcely able to smile, but she said it made her 
forget about the pain for a little while. Mr. Keener, 
before showing the picture or reading the story, had 
given the children, who were able to enjoy them, a little 
sketch of Morelands, and the people who were living 
there, and one little girl said she had often been there, 
when her father was a gardener on the next place. Be- 
fore Mr. Keener and Tom left, they had been asked many 
times if they would not come again, and bring another 
picture and story. One wanted a picture of one thing, 
and one of another ; and just as they were leaving, one 
of the nurses said there was a patient who wished to 
P 225 


226 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


speak to them. It proved to be one of the older 
girls. 

“ She looked as though she had been very ill,” Tom 
said ; “ but her eyes were bright, and her light, tousled 
hair was just tumbling round as though it liked it. She 
said her mother had lived in the South when she was a 
little girl, and had an old colored mammy that she used 
to talk about before she died. She asked if we would 
not some time bring a picture and story of Mammy Tot. 
I told her I guessed we could manage it, if Mammy Tot 
would agree.” 

“ Of course, she will,” said Bessie, at once. “ Mammy 
Tot would do anything in the world to help any one else 
in trouble.” 

To the surprise of every one, however, Mammy Tot 
looked very serious, and would not say anything until 
Helen asked, pleasantly : 

“ What is it, Mammy Tot? Don’t you like the idea? ” 

“ Naw, miss. I’s a studyin’, an’ I’s a tinkin’ dat ef so 
be dat you an’ Miss Bessie kin git ’long fur a whiles, dat 
seems like’s ef I had oughter go an’ see dat ar sick 
cbile.” 

“ That would be splendid ! ” cried Bessie, excitedly ; 
“ and you can see them all, and tell them some of the 
things you have told me. You know there are lots of 
children who scarcely know anything about the colored 
mammvs of the South. Of course, Cousin Helen and I 
can spare you. We will just love to have you.” 

This first visit started a series of weekly communica- 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


227 


tions between the hospital and Morelands. There were 
pictures and stories with individual messages, until the 
children at both places felt as though they were friends. 
When Mammy Tot paid her visit, Helen suggested that 
Maud accompany her ; but she said, no. She feared it 
might make Bessie feel it more to think she could not go. 

“I would not have thought of that,” said Tom, in 
speaking of it to Helen ; “ but I have always said there 
was something fine underneath. Did you see how her eyes 
sparkled, and how her color came and went, when I was 
telling how her story was received the other day? She 
looked almost as though she might be pretty some time ; 
and, indeed, I don’t think she is as awkward as she was. 
I just tell you she’s made of the right kind of stuff, any- 
how.” 

“ Thank you, Tom,” said Helen. “ It has been a great 
pleasure to me to see how you and Bessie have helped 
Maud to overcome some of her awkwardness. It will be 
some time before it will be all gone, and I am afraid we 
can never expect to do anything to make her face a' 
pretty one ; but I trust she herself will so live as to 
make it a very interesting and attractive one. I can’t 
tell you how I appreciate what you and Bessie have done 
for her.” 

“ We would have been worse than brutes, if we had 
not done it, after all you have done for us.” 

“ The hospital work,” as they called it, was the source 
of great pleasure and interest to them all, and the visits 
were made sometimes by Mr. Keener, sometimes by Mr. 


228 


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Duncan, and sometimes by Mr. Edmands. At times two 
of them, or even all of them, went together, and Bessie 
enjoyed the reports particularly then, for they told such 
different things. After one of his visits, Mr. Edmands 
asked leave to bring a friend to Morelands. To Helen’s 
surprise, he proved to be a publisher who had recognized 
talent in her rough sketches, and had brought a little 
poem for her to illustrate, that he might see a carefully 
executed sketch, and also judge something of the amount 
of originality she possessed. If she was able to handle 
the subject as he had reason to suspect she would, there 
might be something good in store for her ; but he would 
promise nothing. 

“ I understand,” he said, “ that you did not write the 
stories yourself.” 

“No; this is the author,” she said, taking Maud’s 
hand in hers, and smiling. 

Maud had been listening eagerly to what he said about 
Helen’s work, her eyes and ears open to catch every- 
thing in praise of it ; but when attention was suddenly 
called to herself, she became embarrassed at once, and 
the words she heard caused her to tremble violently, and 
to look at Helen in an appealing way. 

“Well, well,” said the publisher, “I had no idea so 
young a brain had fashioned those tales. I tell you what, 
miss, if I were you, I would try to love that kind of 
work, and to stick to it ; for I assure you there is a kind 
of literary merit in what you have done that is not often 
shown by one so young.” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


229 


Helen held Maud’s hand, and smiled pleasantly at 
her, but as soon as she could get away, the child disap- 
peared, and Helen found her, after her visitors had left, 
in her own room, with a bright, happy look on her face. 
She threw her arms about Helen’s neck, and said : 

“ I could not wait any longer, sister. I just had to 
come and thank God. To think of there really, really 
and truly being a hope of my ever doing such work ! ” 

“ Bessie wants to see you, and tell you how glad she is. 
I think she is almost as happy as you are. There were 
great tears of joy in her eyes just now.” 

“ Dear, dear Bessie ! Do let us go to her.” 

Tom too, was delighted when he had heard of the 
visit, and what had been said : 

“ I say, Maud,” he said, “ I am proud of you, and 
some day, when people are talking about you as an 
author, I expect to be prouder still to be able to say, I 
know you.” 

“ Please don’t make fun of me, now, Tom,” said Maud, 
nervously. 

“Pm not making fun. Pm in dead earnest, and 
Helen can tell you I have said the same thing to her 
before. I firmly believe what I say, Maud.” 

“ Think of anybody being really proud to know me,” 
laughed Maud, nervously, adding a moment later, “ but 
I am glad you told me that, Tom, because it will help 
me to work harder still to try to make you proud of 
me.” 

She had hoped to begin going to school very early in 


230 


THE SGUTHEKN COUSIX. 


the fall ; but when John came again to Morelands, he 
said he had found such a pleasant place where they 
could be together for the winter, but that, he hardly 
thought it best to take Maud there until they could all 
go, which would probably be the latter part of October, 
as the European party was expected to return by the 
middle of the month. Maud was disappointed, but she 
kept her feelings to herself so well that only Helen sus- 
pected them. She would not have John do so on any 
account, for he had done every thing he could to provide 
ways and means for them all to be together for the win- 
ter. He looked very happy, now that he was able to 
follow out a line of work and study that had all his life 
been very attractive to him. He and Mr. Edmands spent 
a week together at Morelands in September, and the 
week proved a very happy one for all the young people. 
They were always introducing surprises and pleasures of 
some kind, and Bessie told Helen she did not think 
many people had two such pleasant visitors that week as 
they had. While they were there, Mrs. Duncan arrived 
for a short visit, and Bessie was allowed to try to use her 
feet for the first time. She was very anxious to be able 
to walk when her father arrived ; but when she was told, 
after her first attempt, that she must wait a week, at least, 
before making another, she did not complain, but made 
some pleasant little remark to try to keep others from 
feeling it. Tom felt it deeply, and she knew it, but 
Maud could not help showing it. 

“We must not mind such a little thing,” said Bessie. 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


231 


“ God has taken such good care of me so far, that I 
know he will do what is best now.’’ 

Patiently she waited till they would let her make the 
effort again, and her patience was rewarded ; for though 
she only took two or three steps, and had Tom’s arm 
around her at the time, she was told she could do a little 
more the next day. 

“ Isn’t it splendid, Tom ? ” she whispered, as he care- 
fully put her back in her rolling chair again. She had 
said from the first that she would like Tom to help her 
when she did try to walk. “ He’s my brother, you 
know,” she would say, “ and I think he would like it 
too.” 

" Of course he would,” John said on one occasion, 
“and he’d be proud of it too. Tom’s a brother who 
would be very glad to do anything for his sister. He 
has traits that I admire very much, and I am glad to 
know him.” 

“ I am so glad to hear you say that,” said Bessie, with 
sparkling eyes. “I think he’s just one of the nicest 
brothers that ever lived ; but, do you know, I never 
would have thought so, I am afraid, if Cousin Helen had 
not come to live with us. She helped us to know each 
other.” 

“ You will miss her when she leaves, will you not ? ” 
said Mr. Edmands. 

“ Yes, but I shall be so glad to have her with her 
brother again. You know it would be wicked for me to 
complain when I have had her so long. You don’t 


232 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


know how she looked forward to going home before, and 
how cheerfully she gave it up when she found Tom and 
I needed her. Suppose she had not done it ! Do you 
know, I sometimes think everybody grows better who 
lives with her ; and yet she i3 full of life and fun. I 
don’t know just what it is, but there is something about 
her that makes people ashamed to do anything mean. 
Did you know about our laundress ? ” 

, “ No.” 

“ Then I must tell you. I know Cousin John will 
like to hear it.” 

But before she could begin her story a messeuger ar- 
rived with a note asking if Mammy Tot would go to New 
York at once to the hospital. After her first visit there 
she had gone frequently, and had become much inter- 
ested in some of the patients ; but the one who attracted 
her most was the girl whose mother had lived in the 
South, and who had been nursed by a colored mammy. 
To her, Mammy Tot told story after story of life among 
the cotton fields ; and now that the girl had grown worse, 
and they feared was dying, she had asked that Mammy 
Tot be sent for. 

“ Do not think it necessary to come back here so long 
as she needs you,” said Helen, when Mammy Tot was 
ready to start. “ We will be more than glad to have you 
help another as you have helped us.” 

“ Bress yer soul, chile, ef I ain't a tinkin ’ di3 yer 
berry mawnin’ dat my wuk yer mos’ ’bout done fur ; an’ 
I reck’n I ain’t gwine be much mo’ use ter de Lawd no 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


233 


how ; and yer he done call me fus’ ting. Dat’s de way 
he has o’ tellin’ all we dat he knows ’bout dat ting he 
own sef. Lor, honey, I reck’n de good Lawd gwine 
keep us busy ’twell he ready ter take us inter de king- 
dom. Ef ye’ll jes’ drap a line ter my ole man, an’ 
tell ’im not ter shout so loud at de meetins now, dat he 
gwine furgit ter sabe de tomatuses an’ sich, like he done 
befo’ when I’s away, I’m bleeged ter yer.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


KIND WORDS. 

M 1VTOW, Bessie, we are ready for the story of the 
-Li laundress,” said John, a few hours later, when 
Helen was not present. Mrs. Duncan had joined the 
party, and so had Maud. 

“ Do you mean Mrs. Bagley ? ” asked Maud. 

“ Yes. When we first came here, she was a terrible* 
scold. She hardly seemed to be able to speak pleasantly 
to any one. Cousin Helen used to go about the house 
often then, singing ‘ Kind words can never die, no, never 
die.’ I did not know why she did it, but I have found 
out since. You know, every Sunday afternoon for an 
hour — since we have been here — Cousin Helen has given 
us a little Bible reading and talk, and she has always 
invited the servants to join us at any time. One or two 
commenced it, and then more of them until we had per- 
suaded them all to come ; even Mrs. Bagley, who said at 
first she would not do it. They were just the most interest- 
ing kind of meetings, for Cousin Helen seemed to know 
how to suit everybody. One afternoon I noticed she 
had a great deal to say about kind words, and how much 
they could do. It was particularly interesting that after- 
noon, and I sometimes think we will never, any of us, 
forget it. I know I never shall now ; for last week Mrs. 

234 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


235 


Bagley came up stairs and started to say something, but 
burst out crying, and sat for a few moments with her 
face hidden by her apron before she could say anything 
at all. Then she told Cousin Helen she had come to 
thank her ; and she told how after she was married, her 
husband began to drink, and she grew cross and scolded 
him until she got so she just scolded all the time, and it 
was as much as she could do to keep a place. Cousin 
Helen had made her feel a little uncomfortable at first, 
for it did not seem as though any one ought to say a 
harsh word when she was around. Then, she said, the 
afternoon we had the talk about kind words, she just 
made up her mind she’d try it, and see what it would do 
for her. She said Cousin Helen never talked about 
things she did not know about herself, and she knew she 
was sure about everything she said then. I wish you 
could have seen her when she told about trying kind 
words, instead of scolding that night. She said her hus- 
band was so surprised that he stayed at home to see 
what it meant, and the next morning he told her if she 
would keep it up, that he would promise to stop drink- 
ing. She said they had both tried, and they had never 
been so happy since they had been married ; but she 
thought it was partly because they were helping each 
other. Then she began to cry again, and say that it 
was because she didn’t understand how to thank Cousin 
Helen, but that her husband wanted to know if he 
might come and see the young lady who had done so 
much for them. Of course, Cousin Helen said she 


236 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


would be very glad to see him ; and the next day they 
came together, dressed in their best and looking so 
happy. It would have done you good to see them ; and 
last Sunday afternoon they came again.” 

“ Did you know,” said Maud, “ that they have asked 
if they can go and live with us where we are going ? 
Mrs. Bagley says it helps people to be good to have sis- 
ter look at them. She says that before she tried to stop 
scolding, she found somehow that the cross words would 
not come so fast while she was about. They were 
ashamed, she said.” 

“ Would you not like to think you could do so much,” 
said Bessie, wistfully; “to think that the world was 
better for having you in it ? Mrs. Duncan, what is it 
that makes Cousin Helen help people, even without 
trying ?” 

“ It is the earnest, true and simple life she leads. It 
exerts an influence everywhere she goes, and it is an 
influence that never dies. You girls know something of 
it from what you have seen, but none of us can know 
all, not even she herself ; nor can we tell how it will 
spread and make itself felt long after we are dead.” 

“I wa3 thinking about that the other day,” said Maud, 
“ and Tom said that influence never died, but went on 
and on forever. One can understand that about great 
things, but the small things, you know ” 

“ Are what make the great ones,” said Mrs. Duncan. 
“ It is the little, every-day worries that do more to make 
unhappy homes than the great troubles. If we could all 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


237 


look after those, the world would be a happier place 
than it is. That is what Helen does. She does not wait 
for great things to do, but does the little ones before her, 
and does them with her might.” 

“ And she never seems to know what she is doing, 
either,” said Bessie. 

“ Her influence would not be so great if she was con- 
scious of it all the time,” said Mr. Edmands. 

Afterward, when he was speaking of it to John alone, 
he said : 

“ It is such women who make men pause and think. 
It is such women who make home what God means it to 
be ; and it is they who make us all long for something 
higher and better. I was attracted by your sister the 
first night I met her, and I have learned to know and 
admire her more and more, till a great longing has come 
over me for a home of my own with her gentle influence 
around and about me. I am not as worthy of her as 
some men, perhaps ; but I too have felt her influence in 
a way that would surprise her, if she knew. I am and 
always shall be a better man for having known her.” 

“ She is young yet,” said John, after a moment’s pause, 
“ and I doubt if the thought of marriage has come to 
her.” 

“ Nor do I intend to bring it before her at present. 
There is time enough for that as far as she is concerned. 
I am willing to wait patiently until the idea of a possi- 
bility of such a thing dawns upon her ; and then, when I 
think the proper time has come, I shall tell her what is 


238 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


in my heart, and put my fate in her hands. I thought 
it would be as well for me to let you know.” 

“ Thank you,” said John, very quietly. “ I suppose it 
will seem strange to you, but the idea of marriage as 
connected with her has never come to me before, and 
just at the moment it strikes me with a keen sense of 
loss. W e have lived a life in our Southern home that 
has drawn us peculiarly close together, so that we lived, 
in a certain way, for each other. I think you know her 
well enough now to understand what I mean by that, 
and the thought of giving her happiness into the hands 
of another had not occurred to me. It is only right that 
it should be so, of course ; and I have no hesitation in 
saying that I am certain she will make a wise choice. 
If you are that choice, I shall be ready to welcome you 
very cordially as a brother. She will make a wife to be 
proud of ; and one, as you say, who will help a man to 
live a life he would not be ashamed to look back on at 
its close.” 

While he was speaking, he had risen and grasped his 
companion’s hand warmly, and now abruptly turned and 
left him. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


AN UP AND DOWN CHRISTIAN. 

1V/T AMM Y TOT did not return for several days ; and 
when she did, the girl who had sent for her had 
passed away from earth and gone to join her mother in 
a more beautiful home beyond. 

“ She’s alayin’ in my arms when de good Lord sont fur 
’er,” said Mammy Tot. “ An’ she jes’ say dat she dun 
no’ how she kin send de tanks back yere fur lettin’ on 
me go ober dar, when de beautiful angel come. I ain’t 
seen it, but she did, an’ she riz right up an’ put out ’er 
weak little hans like’s ef she want ter go, an’ de beauti- 
ful angel tuk ’em an’ den I knowed dar warn’t no mo’ 
pain an’ sufferin’ fur dat chile.” 

“ She did not suffer at the last, then ? ” asked Helen. 

“Naw, chile. Fur nigh on t’ an hour she jes’ lay en 
my arms a-talkin’ ’bout de beautiful mudder wat’s 
awaiten’ fur ’er ober dar, an’ she say dat she done ask de 
good Lawd ter leabe ’er ter come an’ fetch ’er. I dunno’ef 
he done dat, but, howsomever she’s pleased ter go, an’ she 
ain’t fearin’ fur nothin’. I wish my ole man could 
a-seen ’er. He’s de mos’ downsomest Christian I eber did 
seen.” 

“ Why, Mammy Tot, you were talking about his shout- 
ing so much the other day,” said Bessie. 


239 


240 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ Dat de trouble, miss. He one o’ dem up an’ down 
Christians wot neber stay nowhar long. Time de meet- 
ins an’ de tracted sarvice, he up in a balloon, seems like 
soarin’ away high as ’e kin get ; an’ den he comes down 
all on a suddint like, an’ gits down in de ditch way under 
de groun’ som’ers whar he sins jes’ kiver ’im an weigh 
down mighty hard. I’s talked ter dat ole man time an’ 
agin’ 'bout turnin’ over de burden ter him wot say he kin 
tote it fur ’im, but dat doan seem like’s ef it make no 
manner o’ differ, twell I jes’ begun ter tink dat de time 
a-comin’ when he ain't gwine ter be happy ’ithout de bur- 
den, an’ den I take dat ting ter de Lawd an’ I axes ’im 
ter show me de way ter holp ’im ter git shet ob it all. 

“ I’s a-washin’ one day when it come ter me, and I 
picks up a shirt wot’s de mos’ meanest-lookin’ ting I.eber 
did see. Seem’s like’s ef it ben in the miry clay som’ers. 
I jes’ show dat ter my ole man an’ tell ’im dat’s him w r en 
e’s down all kivered over w r id sin an’ seems like ’e ain’t 
neber gwine ter git shet ob it. I ain’t sayin’ no mo’ den, 
but I jes take ’ticilar pains ’ith dat ar shirt an’ I polish 
’im up twell you kin see yer face in it good. Den I 
shows it ter im agin’ an I savs : 

“ ’Dar yer is arter de blood o’ Christ done wash yer 
sins away. Now wot yer got ter be moanin’ an’ groanin’ 
’bout de sins dat ain’t dar. Dey’s done gone away foreber 
an’ eber, an’ yer can’t neber fine dem no mo’ ef yer hunt 
long’s ye lib. Yer spec dat man gwine ter moan an’ 
groan ’bout de dirt I done tuk out o’ dat ar shirt ? Naw, 
sir ; he jes know dat done gone whar he ain’t neber gwine 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


241 


ter see it no mo’. He kin git some mo’ on dar, but dat 
■what onct washed away ain’t neber cornin’ back, dat’s 
one ting sho’. Ef yer b’leive’s dat yer sins am washed 
away by de blood ob de Lamb, den yer ain’t got no call 
ter be down-hearted. De Book do say dat dey all 
blotted out an’ ain’t gwine be ’membered no mo’ fur 
eber an’ eber agin ye.” 

“Didn’t that help him? ” asked Bessie. 

“ Ya-as, miss. Seem’s like’s ef he’s mos’ light-hearted ; 
but dat ony ’bout a munf befo’ I kum away, an’ I ain’t 
seed ’im shoutin’ none since. Dev’s a many tinsrs de 
Lawd ’specs us ter bar wot is railly an’ truly burdens an* 
hard ter tote ; but none on ’em ain’t no sins wot’s ben 
washed away. We’s ter watch an’ pray ter keep off 
worser sins, an’ ter do de tings wot lie’s a callin’ us ter 
do. I mind de time of de war, when dey’s a-comin’ fus’ 
one army an’ den anudder, dat one day dey comes ter de 
house a weak-lookin’ sodjer, wot say he’s a-dyin’, an’ kin 
’e git a leetle water. Ole missus, she sav dat ’e kin come 
in, an’ den she sont fur me an’ tell me ter fix de spare 
room de bestest I knowed how ; dat de Lawd done sent 
an enemy ter de house, an’ we mus’ kur fur ’im, same’s 
ef he’s one o’ all we. Hadn’t ben fur dat, he’d a-died, 
sho’s yer bawn, but ole missus, she holp to kur fur ’im 
’er ownself. She one o’ dem Christians wot puts dey trust 
en de Lawd, an’ she jes’ ready ter do wot he say, matters 
not wot, an’ she do it same ’s ef she knowed it was cornin’ 
an’ was a gittin’ ready fur it. She warn’t worrvin’ ’bout 
no sins wot’s ben tuk away. She jes’ hed de bestest she 

* Q 


212 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


got en de house gib ter dat enemy, same’s ef e’s a king 
or queen. Ef she's a moanin’ and groanin’ dat ar sodjer 
ain’t gwine neber git well, dat sho ? What yer spose 
ter come ter dis yere world ef we’s all groanin’ 
Christians? Yer tink dat gwine ter make udder people 
mo’ anxious ter git inter de fold? Naw, naw, dey’s too 
much ter do, an’ we can’t afford ter let de good works 
slip, fur de Bible say : * By dere fruits ye shall know 
dem.’ Doan yer ebber let yersef inter de ditch an’ git 
ter be a low-down Christian.” 

“ Did you ever hear from the soldier again ? ” asked 
Bessie. 

“ Lor, yes, honey ; he jes’ writ de mos’ beautifulest letter 
ter ole missus arter de war done end, an’ he say dat she 
done by him same ’s de Lawd meant when he tell he 
people ter lub dey enemies, an’ den he say dat he know 
she lost a heap by de war, trou de slabes an’ sich. He say 
dat he ain’t got much, nohow ; but ef she ’ll gree, he 
gwine share wot he do hab wid her.” 

“ Did she let him ? ” asked Bessie. 

“Naw, honey; she say she do dat fur de lub ob de 
Lawd, an’ she doan want no pay ’cept ter hab him satis- 
fied. She know he gwine take keer on ’er.” 

“ I never realized how true that was until since I have 
been sick,” said Bessie, “ and he has taken care of me, 
and given me so much help in every way, and so many 
kind friends. And now, to think I am really able to 
walk a little ! It seems almost too much. It would be 
hard for papa to come home and find me still in my chair.” 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


243 


Mr. Carter had been written to by this time, and told 
of Bessie’s condition, as he was much improved, and it 
was thought best for both him and Bessie that he should 
thoroughly understand everything before they met. 
Bessie was by no means strong yet, though it was 
thought she would soon become so after she was able to 
get about more. Her country life had done wonders for 
her ; but there were still times when she suifered, and 
would grow weak again. One of these times came just 
before t^e travelers were expected, and threatened to put 
a damper on the spirits of those who were at Morelands ; 
but Bessie, in her sweet way, begged them not to mind, 
as she knew it was all right. God had some good reason 
for it. 


CHAPTER XXX. 


AN AFFECTING MEETING. 



|HE time had approached rapidly for the travelers to 


JL return, and everything had been done to bring 
Bessie into as strong a condition as possible; but her 
eyes would show, in spite of all she could do, that she 
was not so strong as she had been. Quietly she lay back 
in her chair trying to rest, and to be strong enough to 
stand the excitement of the following day, when she 
expected to meet her father, mother and sister. Helen 
had gone into one of the adjoining rooms, where she was 
arranging some fresh flowers, when she was startled by 
the words : 

“ Where is my child ? Where is Bessie ? ” 

Turning quickly she saw her aunt approaching, her 
face very pale, and full of anxiety. Putting her finger 
to her lips, she went to her, and, in a low tone, cautioned 
her against speaking so that Bessie could hear her. 

“ She is not worse? ” asked Mrs. Carter, quickly. 

“ Only a little drawback ; but she has been trying to 
keep from exciting herself, so that she might be bright 
and well to-morrow, when we expected you. She is rest- 
ing now.” 

“Where? Can I not go to her? We arrived a day 
earlier than we expected, and I hurried off at once to see 


244 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


245 


Bessie, leaving your uncle and Adele to attend to the 
baggage, and to follow me to-morrow morning. I could 
not wait till then. Take me to her, please.” 

“ Perhaps it would be as well for me to tell her first 
that you are here.” 

“ Do not tell her who, only that it is some one who longs 
to see her, and let me go to her as soon as possible.” 

Helen left the door open as she went into the room 
where Bessie was, knowing her chair was in such a posi- 
tion that she could not see her mother. To her surprise, 
she found Bessie with a troubled look on her face. 

“ What is it, dear ? ” she asked, as she knelt by her 
side. 

“ I was thinking of poor mamma,” she said. “ It will 
be so hard for her to find me in this way.” 

“ Not hard in the way you think, dear, I am very 
sure ; but I want to tell you of a nice surprise I have for 
you ; something that will make you very, very happy. 

If I could tell you that mamma ” 

Poor, poor mamma ! I am so sorry for her. She 

cannot What was that, Cousin Helen ? ” she asked, 

as Mrs. Carter, who had come quietly into the room, and 
stood behind Bessie’s chair, gave a heavy sob. The next 
moment, she was on her knee3 in front of her, saying, 
between her sobs : 

“ My child, my child ! Oh, my baby ! ” 

“ Mamma ! mamma ! ” cried Bessie, excitedly. “ Dear, 
dear mamma.” 

“ Did you think I could not bear to see you so ? Did 


246 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


you think I did not love you ? I am to blame, I know, 
but tell me, I have not lost my child’s love. Oh God, 
spare me that.” 

“ Mamma,” said Bessie, “ do not cry so. Look up and 
let me tell you how much I love you, while I wipe the 
naughty tears away.” As tenderly as though she were 
the older and her mother the younger, she wiped the 
tears from the eyes that were looking up into hers, and 
as she did so, she said : 

“ I love you so very much, mamma, that when I first 
was hurt, and thought you would mind having me about, 
I would rather have died than be a burden to you ; but 
now — now that you do not mind — oh, mamma, it is 
worth all the pain and suffering to know it. You must 
let me thank God, mamma. I can’t wait any longer.” 

Closing her eyes and bowing her head, she remained a 
moment very quiet, while her mother watched her 
eagerly. When she looked up, she smiled, and her eyes 
were very bright, but seeing her mother’s face, she said, 
quickly : 

“ I will have to kiss the tears away. There, mamma, 
let me take off your bonnet.” And with her delicate little 
hands she unfastened the strings, and laid the bonnet on 
a table by her side. 

“ What lovely hair you have ! ” she said, running her 
fingers through it. “ I never knew how pretty it was 
before.” 

“Perhaps I did not give you a chance to find out. 
Bessie, my child, I have not done what I should for you ; 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


247 


but I have been punished in a way you could hardly 
understand. Mamma has never done much to make you 
think she cared for you ; but since she found out, just 
before leaving England, how near she came to losing 
you, she has hardly been able to sleep or eat. Will you 
try to love me now, dear ? ” 

“ I always have loved you, mamma, but but 

I guess it was like Tom and me. We did not know how 
much we cared until we told each other. Here comes 
Cousin Helen again. Do you know what she did ? ” 

“Yes, yes; but I cannot think of that yet. Cousin 
Helen understands, I am sure. She has done so much 
for us all, that ” 

The tears came again, and she could not speak. 

“You are not tiring yourself, dear?” said Helen, 
who had left Bessie and her mother alone, but was 
afraid of too much excitement. 

“Oh, Cousin Helen, it rests me so to have mamma 
here. I can’t tell you how much, but I believe I 
could do almost anything now.” And Helen won- 
dered if the dread of this meeting had not done much to 
keep her from improving as they had hoped. She cer- 
tainly looked better than she had done since her late 
attack ; but Helen thought it best that her feelings should 
not be too much excited just then, and began to question 
her aunt about her uncle and Adele, and about their trip, 
suggesting in a few moments that Mrs. Duncan might be 
glad to welcome her. 

“You won’t leave me, mamma?” said Bessie. “Let 


248 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


Mrs. Duncan come here, and then you can sit where I 
can watch you.’’ 

Mrs. Duncan was brought in, and in a little while 
Maud appeared. She had by no means thrown aside her 
shy awkwardness before strangers, but to Bessie’s delight 
her mother greeted her so pleasantly that a little of it 
disappeared at once. 

“ Maud is just the best company in the world, mamma,” 
said Bessie, as Mrs. Carter, having kissed her and said a 
few kind words, still held her hand. “ I don’t know of 
any one who sees more funny things than she does. 
Some time when you want a good laugh, I will get her to 
tell some of her odd things. She knows just when to tell 
the funny things, and when the serious ones.” 

“ Then I am more than ever glad to know her. 
Maud, you must try to like me as much as I am sure I 
shall like you.” 

Maud did not say anything ; but when she could 
release herself she skipped to Helen’s side, and there was 
a pleased look in her eyes as she seated herself on an 
ottoman. Tom was expected to arrive before long ; but a 
note soon came from him saying that he had found out 
that his father had arrived, and had at once hunted him 
up and should stay with him till everything in the cus- 
tom house had been attended to. His father, he said, 
was looking better than he had seen him for years, and 
he was very proud of him. Bessie was not to do any- 
thing to tire herself so that she could not walk to meet 
him for he, Tom, would be there to help her, if necessary. 


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It was a very happy evening they spent at Morelands, 
Bessie lying quietly most of the time and listening, 
while the others talked ; and there was so much to tell, 
for each party was anxious to hear all that was possible 
about the doings of the others. 

“ Cousin Helen,” said Bessie, when she was bidding her 
good night, “ I always loved mamma, you know that, but 
I never knew how very sweet and lovely she was. If it 
was the accident, I thank God for it.” 


CHAPTER XXXI. 


A VERY HAPPY REUNION. 

M RS. CARTER kept Helen with her until late that 
night. She had many questions to ask about her 
child and the life they had all led during the last few 
months, and she also told her something of her own 
life. 

“ As a girl,” she said, “ I was poor, but proud. My 
father failed when I was quite young, and there was a 
struggle to live decently that decided me on one point. 
I would make a brilliant match. It would kill me to be 
always poor. Realizing the fact that education was a 
great power in the world, I determined to devote myself 
to study for several years. It became a passion with me, 
and I not only studied books but people, until my ambi- 
tion knew no bounds ; for gradually came the conscious- 
ness of growing personal power, until I began to feel as 
though the whole world would be mine by a little exer- 
tion. By the time I was ready to enter society I had so 
laid my plans, and so studied human nature, that in spite 
of my poverty I was able to enter the best — perhaps I 
should say the most fashionable — society in the place 
where I lived. Then began my intrigues, I can call 
them nothing else, for I had determined to capture a 
prize, in the form of a husband, before my first season 
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251 


was over. The prize I aimed for was one for which 
others were fighting too; but my belief in my own 
powers was such that I never supposed for an instant that 
I would lose the race. But I did ; and then came my first 
rude awakening to the fact that all the world was not 
mine, after all. There were other men whom I could have 
if I would but say the word, but my pride had received 
a fall, and I would not notice them. Your uncle had 
watched the affair with apparent indifference, and I was 
piqued to think he was not among my ardent admirers; 
for he was a man I respected, whom I would have made 
an effort to win had I not been so absorbed in my other 
affair. As it turned out, I married your uncle in the 
end, loving him too, but loving his money and position 
more. For years now I have lived the life for which I 
longed, being, I thought, as happy as most people. My 
duties as a society woman claimed so much of my time 
that I had very little to devote to my husband and chil- 
dren, and I did not stop to consider the matter of their 
happiness, supposing their lives equally happy with 
mine. Adele, I determined, should make what I called 
a more brilliant match than my own. As for Bessie, I 
had scarcely thought much about her at all, until you 
came, and in a strange, unaccountable way opened my 
eyes to the fact that I was allowing to slip away from me 
something that you considered valuable, and that I my- 
self might be sorry some day to have lost. I confess 
it made me a little uncomfortable at first, and then I dis- 
missed it, and would not think of it again, for it was not 


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pleasant, and I had no time to devote to anything but 
society. One day — I doubt if you remember it — she 
went on some trifling errand to my room, an unusual 
thing to begin with, and when she returned, she handed 
me an exquisite rose. It may seem a simple thing for a 
child to do for her mother, but in this case it spoke vol- 
umes to me. It was a silent appeal that the child her- 
self could not understand. I had always thought before 
that I loved my children as much as was necessary. 
Rising suddenly to go to the parlor I dropped the rose, 
and when I thought of it again that night and went to 
look for it, it was gone. I think I would have kept it 
always, had I found it.” 

“ Bessie can tell you where it is,” said Helen. 

“Bessie! Hid she find it? Then she must have 
thought I did not care, that the feeling that suggested it 
was wasted. Poor, poor child! and to think” — here she 
stopped, for her voice faltered — “ that I might have lost 
her if you had not risked your life to save her. I 
cannot talk of it,” she said with a shudder, adding, as 
though to change the subject, “ it was while your uncle 
was so very ill abroad that I fully realized my position 
and what the world would be to me were I to lose him, and 
not have my children’s love. He drew me to him so 
gently and lovingly that he won me entirely and com- 
pletely. I do not understand it myself, but I know that 
now I would gladly endure poverty if, by keeping my 
riches, I were to lose my husband’s and children’s love. I 
suppose I have always loved them in a certain way, but 


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not as I do now. Why I tell you all this I hardly know* 
except that I realize how indirectly the change in me is 
due to you. We have all been benefited by having you 
with us, more than you can think, and yet, I — I would 
have moulded you to suit myself, and I would have 
spoiled you. Now, I understand your objections to cer- 
tain things, for had you always blindly followed my 
wishes, you would have failed to accomplish what you 
have done. I wish Adele were more like you. I have 
known others with just such quiet, unconscious influence ; 
one, a girl when I was one, could have helped me to see 
things more as I see them now ; but I rebelled, and in a 
fit of terror, when I saw what would happen if I still re- 
mained under her influence, I broke away from it and 
would have nothing to do with her. I have never wholly 
forgotten it, however, and it made me more lenient 
toward you, I think ; for somehow I cannot help admir- 
ing certain qualities possessed by you both. It may seem 
strange for me to tell you these things, but I shall feel 
better for having spoken of them, and for some reason it 
seems more natural to speak of them to you, who have 
had so much to do with the change that has come to us, 
than to any one else. I have suffered agonies since I 
knew the serious nature of my child’s accident, in the 
thought that I was too late to win her love. Helen, 
thank God that you can never pass through what I have 

in the last two weeks. And now ” Here she broke 

down completely, and Helen found herself likely to have 
another patient on her hands. She did not leave her 


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until far into the night, when she had fallen asleep from 
exhaustion. It had been a trying evening, and she knew 
the following day would be an exciting one ; so she has- 
tened to take rest herself, to be better able to go through 
with what might be before her. 

The next day was one of those lovely fall days that 
make one glad to be alive. It reminded Helen of the 
one, a year before, when she had gone to the old mill to 
meet John. She scarcely had time to think of it, how- 
ever, or to realize how much had happened since, for the 
day was full of its own happenings. First came Tom, 
full of life and excitement. 

“ I got up before daylight,” he said, “ so that I could 
get here before father, because I thought Bessie might 
like to try and walk to meet him, you know.” 

“ Oh, Tom ! ” said Bessie, warmly, “ I do believe you 
are the very best brother in all the world.” 

A glad, happy look came into Tom’s face, and he shot 
a quick glance at Helen, who responded with a smile 
that told him she understood ; and then he spoke at once 
of his father. 

“ You will hardly know him, Bess. He looks as young 
and happy as can be.” 

“ And don’t you think mamma is prettier than she 
ever was before?” asked Bessie, stroking lovingly the 
hair she had called so pretty the night before. “ I do.” 

Tom had not shown any great pleasure on seeing his 
mother, but she had not expected it, for she had never 
yet tried to make her presence at any time a pleasure 


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to liim ; but there was a wistful look in her face that 
Helen saw, and from which she formed hopes for them 
both. 

When the time came for Mr. Carter and Adele to ar- 
rive, there was great excitement at Morelands, for every 
one knew how eagerly Bessie had looked forward to 
meeting her father unaided and alone. 

“ I think I can do it, Tom,” she said, brightly. “ I feel 
so much stronger than I did yesterday.” 

She had been dressed in her “ very prettiest,” Mammy 
Tot declared, and she was the one who announced the 
arrival of the carriage. Tom was by Bessie’s side ; but 
before she would let him help her to rise, she took her 
mother’s face between her little hands and kissed it, as 
though she were the older and her mother the younger 
of the two. 

“All right now, Tom,” she said, a moment later, and 
tenderly he put his arms about her and raised her to a 
standing position, holding her till she steadied herself, 
and only freeing her gradually, as she gained confidence. 

As her father appeared in the doorway, she stepped 
bravely forward, a glad light in her eyes, and her hands 
stretched out to welcome him. There were not many 
steps to take ; but as Mr. Carter caught her in his arms, 
her face grew very white, and her head dropped to her 
father’s shoulder in a helpless way. 

“ It is so good,” she said faintly and then stopped, for 
she had fainted. Mr. Carter picked her up in his arms, 
as Tom rolled her chair toward him, and Helen went to 


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a table for restoratives she had prepared for such an 
emergency. It proved to be only a momentary faint- 
ness, caused by excitement and exertion. 

“ I couldn’t help it, just for a moment,” Bessie said, as 
her father looked anxiously into her face. “ I was so 
glad. It’s all right now, papa dear, and I can get well 
and strong fast with you and mamma to help me. Oh, it 
is so good ; but every one has been good and kind since 
you went away. Are you glad to be back, papa? ” 

“Yes, very, very glad to have all of my dear ones 
together once more.” 

“ There is one of them you have not spoken to yet, 
papa, and you know if it had not been for her, you 
would not have had us all. Say something nice to her 
while I speak to Adele and then come back, for I can’t 
spare you long,” she said with a smile and a warm, hearty 
kiss. 

Mr. Carter found Helen in the adjoining room, but 
when he tried to speak to her, he could only say a few 
words before he broke down, and it was Helen who did 
the talking for a few moments. 

“ I would rather you would not thank me for any- 
thing, uncle,” she said, when he endeavored to speak of 
the accident. “I was only an instrument in God’s 
hands.” 

“ But you risked your own life to save hers,” said her 
uncle, huskily. 

“ The Master gave me the work to do. My life was in 
his hands to do with as he thought best. He has been 


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very good in sparing us all to meet again. Dear Bessie 
has been a patient little sufferer, and we must not now 
let her look back into the sadness of it, uncle.” 

With gentle tact she changed the subject, taking him 
back, in a very few moments, to Bessie. Adele was 
strangely moved by the sight of her sister, and seemed 
glad to get away from her. Later in the day when she 
and Helen were alone, she said : 

“ I can’t stay near Bessie much yet. I suppose it’s be- 
cause I know I ought not to have left her in the first 
place ; and, after all, I did not have so good a time as I 
hoped. Father was sick so much we could not go about 
and see things, and it was disappointing in every way. You 

stayed when you did not want to and did I wonder 

sometimes that I don’t almost hate you, Helen ; but I 
can’t, even though you have taken my place in so many 
ways, and have even supplanted me in the thoughts of 
the man whom above all I admired.” 

“I don’t understand you,” said Helen, with a per- 
plexed look on her face. 

“Which part?” asked Adele, eying her curiously. 
“ Do you mean to say that you don’t understand about 
Mr. Edmands ? that you don’t see what every one else 
does and what I knew before I came back, that he is 
wholly and absolutely devoted to you and you alone ? I 
think I could hate you, if I thought you had deliberately 
set out to bring this thing about ; but I know that is not 
like you and ” 

“ Please, please stop, Adele,” said Helen, whose face 
R 


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had grown very white. “ You have no right to talk 
so.” 

" I think I have, Helen, and you will understand ” 

“No, no, I cannot listen. It hurts.” And rising, with a 
frightened look and an uncertain step, she hurried from 
the room. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 


PARTINGS. 

T HAT was a very happy day for Bessie, who was able 
to show the bright, cheerful side of her nature, the 
excitement of the meeting in the morning having been 
followed by nothing more serious than the momentary 
faintness. Three mysterious looking trunks were brought 
into her room in the afternoon, and she was told that one 
was for her, one for Helen, and one for Tom. Such a 
happy time as it was when they were unpacked, for 
everything in them seemed just suited to the one for 
whom it was intended. 

“ Indeed, uncle, you ought not to have done this for 
me,” said Helen, when she had partially unpacked her 
trunk. 

“Well, it is done, you see,” he said, pleasantly, “and 
I doubt if Bessie thinks I did wrong.” 

“ Indeed I don’t, papa. I would rather you had brought 
Cousin Helen’s than Tom’s and mine. I’m sure I don’t 
know how you knew so well just what she would like. 
Dear Cousin Helen ! She has been so very, very much 
to me and to Tom too ; and yet, papa, I can be glad 
with her that she is going away now, because she will be 
with Maud and Cousin John. She has been so good to 
me that I can truly say I am pleased to have her go.” 

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And Helen seemed anxious to leave; at least John 
thought so, when she came to him and asked if they 
could not go at once to their new home. 

“ Uncle will move into town next week,” she said. “I 
am not needed here now, and do so long to be with you 
alone once more.” 

There was something in the tone that struck John as 
new and strange from her, perhaps the more so, as he 
had noticed something he could not quite understand in 
her manner in the last two days, a half-frightened cling- 
ing to him and a startled look if any one spoke to her 
suddenly. She had now come very close to him, and 
with her head on his shoulder was awaiting his answer. 
He stroked her face lovingly as he said : 

“ We can go any day you wish, dear. How would you 
like first to go back to the old North State ? ” 

“Could we, John?” she asked, eagerly. 

“ Yes, I have arranged for it so that if you wished, we 
then might go there for a week before settling down for 
the winter. There are things to be attended to that it 
would be better for me to attend to in person ; and I left 
old Aunt Chloe in Aunt Han’s house to have it ready 
for us at any moment, should we decide to go there.” 

“ Oh, John, I can’t think of anything in all the world 
I would rather do than spend a week there with you,” 
and then a convulsive little sob warned him it was best 
to change the subject at once ; and he spoke of what had 
come to them both as a glad and happy surprise. Mr. 
Edmands had told them, the night before, that his friend, 


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261 


the publisher, had been so pleased with Helen’s work 
that he w r as willing to give her all she could do, and pay 
her well for it. 

“ Not that I want you now to do anything for your own 
support,'’ said John, when they were talking of it; “but 
it makes me very happy and relieves me of one anxiety 
to think you could do it, if necessary. I knew you had 
considerable talent, but I never dreamed you would be 
able to accomplish so much in so short a time, with even 
the very best advantages. I am proud of my sister in 
more ways than one.” 

“Are you really, John ? It makes me very glad to 
hear you say so. We can go home, then, right away?” 
she asked, wistfully. 

“Yes, indeed, just as soon as you can get ready; but 
Mr. Edmands would like to take us on several long 
drives before we leave. Do you think you would like 
to wait for that? ” 

He knew by the way she started and tightened her 
hold of his hand what it was he had seen in her that was 
new and strange. There were thoughts and feelings just 
dawning upon her that she could not understand. They 
bewildered her, and he was not surprised when she said : 

“ I would rather go at once, please, John.” 

And John felt that she was right. It was best that 
she should go away and look into her heart, and find out 
the meaning of all this. 

“ We cau go the day after to-morrow, if that suits jou, 
dear.” 


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“ Yes, John. Thank you,” she said, very quietly. “ It 
will be good to be back there again with you.” 

“ Things will never be quite the same as they have 
been there. You understand that, dear? Even we, 
ourselves, you will find, have changed in some ways.” 

“ You will always care for me as you have done, 
John?” she asked, eagerly. “You have not changed in 
that?” 

“ No, dear ; and nothing could ever make me love my 
sister less than I have always. In fact, I think I love 
her more and more as time goes on ; and she proves her- 
self worthy of all the love and respect I can possibly 
give her.” 

“ Dear John. Thank you again for saying that. I 
must go now and tell them about our leaving.” 

Although all in her uncle’s family were sorry to have 
Helen leave, there was not one who felt that it would be 
right to ask her to stay longer, when she had already 
sacrificed so much on their account. 

“ You have been a little sunbeam, finding your way 
into the chill and dampness of our home,” said her 
uncle, “ brightening and warming it in such a cheerful, 
generous way we are all better in many ways for having 
had you here ; and you leave behind you a something 
that will always remain, and will be a constant happy 
reminder of your life among us.” 

Mrs. Carter could not say much, but her manner was 
very affectionate and thoughtful, and there were often 
tears in her eyes when she did try to talk to her. Adele 


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263 


was very sober at times when they were together, and 
once said that she supposed she ought to wish to be as good 
as she, and to wield an influence such as she did, but she 
could not yet ; perhaps she would some day. Tom was 
very attentive during the next two days, watching for 
every opportunity of doing some little thing for Helen. 

“ It is not in me,” he said, on one occasion, when he 
had accompanied her on a walk to a sick neighbor’s, 
“ to be like John, you know ; but, Helen, I’ve been think- 
ing about myself a good deal lately, and I’ve come to the 
conclusion that if I just try to do the best with what is 
in me, it’s all I can do.” 

“ And all that is expected of any of us, Tom,” said 
Helen. “If you stick to that and live up to the best 
that is in you, you will do as much in your way as John 
does in his. You know I have great faith in you, 
Tom.” 

“ Yes. It was that which first gave me any desire or 
any thought of better things. Then Bessie helped. I tell 
you what it is, Helen, if I ever do study medicine, I have 
fully made up my mind to make a specialty of troubles 
like hers, for her sake.” 

Bessie talked more about Helen’s leaving than any of 
them, but she talked of it pleasantly and as though it 
were something that was to make her happy, as well as 
Helen. Only once did she allow the conversation to 
assume a sadder tone, and then she said seriously : 

“ Every once in a while I have to stop myself from 
thinking what I will do in the future, when you are not 


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here to help me and to talk to me when things get dark ; 
for they will get dark sometimes, I know.” 

“ When they do, dear, remember this : 

“ In every ‘ O my Father ! ’ 

Slumbers deep a 4 Here, my child.’ " 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 


“only me.” 

O NCE more the brother and sister found themselves 
together in the old mill. They had been at home 
nearly a week, and had visited many of the old scenes, 
some recalling pleasant and some sad recollections ; but 
this place they had left until to-day. Maud was with 
friends, and they two were alone. Around them nothing 
seemed changed. 

The old mill looked as it did a year ago ; the stream 
flowed on as it had flowed then, and the very trees 
seemed to wear the identical dress. And yet there was 
a change, and Helen knew it, and realized that it was in 
herself. 

“ I never dreamed,” she said, “ that a year could bring 
so many things into one’s life. I suppose that is because 
I have always lived here so quietly. Do you remember, 
John, my saying here, before I went away, that there 
would be no excuse for my not being good when there 
was plenty of money and nothing to do but have a good 
time? I was afraid of it all, but you told me there was 
work everywhere to be done for the Master, and that he 
often gave it very unexpectedly. I can understand that 
better now, as I do many other things, and I am glad I 
could come back here and think them all out. I was 

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sorry to leave so many kind friends, but I am so happy 
to be here again. How little we thought, last year, John, 
of all that was to happen in our own home circle ! To 
think of dear Mr. Duncan, who came to take me away, 
having so much to do with the opportunities you have 
now.” 

“ I have my little sister to thank for that.” 

“How, John? I had nothing to do with it.” 

“ More than you think, Helen.” 

It had been a real grief to Helen to part from Mrs. 
Duncan, whom she had learned to look upon as more 
than an ordinary friend ; but they would n<5t be so far 
apart but what they could see each other occasionally. 
There were others, too, to whom she was sorry to say 
good-bye, and some she did not see, as they did not stop 
in New York, since they were to be there a few days on 
their return, and would then have time to see them all. 
There would be much to talk over and arrange then too, 
for she and Bessie had determined that the “ hospital 
work ” should be continued, and Helen was to visit the 
hospital and arrange with Mr. Keener as to the best way 
in which to do it. Bessie, she knew, looked forward 
eagerly to seeing her again, and it would be an equal 
pleasure to her, though it was a great comfort to think 
the child was so happy now in her home relations. She 
had been told about the rose, and reminded Helen of 
what she had said of the work it might have accomplished 
in a few short moments. 

“ I did not dream it could do so much, did you, Cousin 


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267 


Helen ? and that I should know of it, too,” she said. “ It 
is so beautiful to think of. I shall always keep it as long 
as I live.” 

Mr. Edmands was at the train in New York when they 
arrived, with a basket of flowers for Helen and one of 
fruit for Maud ; but they had only time for a very few 
words before they were obliged to separate. 

After discussing plans together for some time, and 
talking of the old home that John was anxious to live in 
again, some day, Helen said : 

“ It seems to me, John, if we live out the lives given 
us, in the very best way we can, there is no need of there 
being so very many lost days, after all. Your text frightened 
me at first ; but now I can see how it would be possible to 
have very few days entirely lost. Mammy Tot used to 
say that there was never a time when the Lord did not 
have something right before us to do, if we would only 
see it. Dear old soul, how glad she will be to get home 
to-night and be with her family once more ! It was very 
kind in Mr. Edmands to bring her back.” 

It had been thought best to keep Mammy Tot to wait 
on Bessie until they moved her and she was comfortably 
settled at home once more. When she could leave, Mr. 
Edmands had volunteered to take her back himself. 

“ Nell dear,” said John, drawing her close to him, 
“ I think you understand now, as well as I do, that it 
is not entirely on Mammy Tot’s account that he is 
coming.” 

“ Yes, John, but it is all so new and strange,” she said 


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very quietly, “ that I can hardly understand it, and when 
I think of you, I feel that I ought not to let him 
come.” 

“ Do you remember a conversation similar to this that 
we had some time ago, when the positions were reversed ? 
You thought that something of this kind coming into my 
life would make me very happy, and you would be glad 
for me. If God has brought this good thing into your 
life first, do you not think I can be glad too ? ” 

She made no answer. 

“ It is not every man with whom I would trust my lit- 
tle sister ; but his is a noble nature, and a warm, un- 
selfish heart. He would consider it a sacred trust. Did 
you know that it was his father who blighted Aunt Han’s 
life ? That was one reason she went to New York. You 
had mentioned the name, and it startled her and made 
her suspicious at once. She went there fully prepared to 
bring you home should she hear one word against him. 
She not only enquired about him, but saw him, thanks to 
Mrs. Duncan, whom she took into her confidence ; and 
the fact that she did not allow herself to be prejudiced 
longer when she could hear nothing against him shows 
the true nobility of her soul. She was willing to forget 
the past and all its bitterness.” 

“ Dear Aunt Han ! How sad it is to think of her life 
having been saddened so.” 

“She was all the more anxious that yours should not 
be, and though the name would have been a constant re- 
minder, she would, in her heart, have rejoiced if this had 


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269 


brought you happiness. If you make up your mind to 
it, Helen dear ” 

“ John, do you think I ought to, when he is so noble 
and grand and I am — only me ? That’s not grammatical, 
John, but it expresses my feelings. It seems to me he 
ought to choose a woman more accustomed to the life he 
has lived, and not a simple country girl.” 

“ But he has found. somethin? in ‘ only me ’ that makes 
him care more for her than for all the grand ladies he 
has ever met or ever will meet.” 

“ Ho you really think so, John? ” 

“ Yes, dear.” 

“ Ho you know, John, he made me uncomfortable 
always at first. I was not accustomed to men just like 
him, and it seemed to me he must think me a very sim- 
ple, awkward girl, and that he would be glad to get away 
from me. I don’t know just why I felt more so with him 
than with others, for there were many other men who 
dressed as elegantly as he did, and who had the same 
manners. After I knew him better, I got over it, and I 
am sure now, John, he is brave and true. If I did not 
think so, I could not let him come here to-night. I have 
lived so long with you, that I have learned to look for 
qualities that all men do not possess. If I thought he 

was different — that It is such a strange, untried life, 

John, that it frightens me to think of it.” 

“ It need not, Helen. Remember : 

“ ‘ Before me, even as behind, 

God is, and all is well.’ ” 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 


THE FLOOD. 

S CARCELY had Mr. Edmands and Mammy Tot 
arrived before the cry went up from many voices: 

“ The river ! ” “ The river ! ” 

Once, many years before, after severe storms in the 
mountains, the little stream that flowed through the town 
had become so swollen that it had overflowed its banks, 
causing great loss of life as well as property. Now it 
had been raining for three days in the mountains, and 
the storm had been so unusually severe that the moment 
the cry was heard, every one knew what it meant. John 
explained briefly to Mr. Edmands, and then, telling 
Mammy Tot it would not be safe for her to attempt to go 
home, said a few bright, encouraging words to Helen, and 
started off to see what could be done to prevent the ter- 
rible scenes likely to occur. 

Mr. Edmands had not understood so quickly as Helen, 
and when John had gone, he questioned her. 

“ If your brother can help,” he said, “ surely I might 
too. If you will tell me which way to go, I will follow 
him.” 

“ Mammy Tot and I will go with you,” she said. “ I 
do not think I could stay at home while so many others 
may be in trouble.” 

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Page 271. 


The Southern Cousin. 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


271 


“I’s a tinkin’ dat de bestest ting fur dis ole ’ooman am 
ter git ter de cabin,” said Mammy Tot, anxiously. “ It 
nigh de water, yer know, Miss Hel’n, an’ ef so be dat it 
gwine creep up ’long side de ole man an’ de chillens, dey 
din’t got no’ers ter go.” 

“ I don’t believe you could cross the bridge, Mammy 
Tot. At any rate, we must make some inquiry first.” 

“ The river,” ordinarily a modest little stream, was now 
a perfect torrent, carrying past the town houses, barns, 
trees, and cattle, and as Mr. Edmands approached the 
place where John was, he asked, anxiously : 

“ Is there nothing to do ? Surely something can ” 

“ We are waiting until there are some signs of human 
life. It is likely there will be, and then ” 

At that moment a cry went up from Mammy Tot : 

“ De cabin ! Lawd hab massy, de ole man an’ de 
chillens dey all done drownded.” 

“ Let us hope they were safe before the cabin was 
washed away,” said Helen, putting her arms round the 
old woman and trying to quiet her. 

“ Dar goes de critter ! ” she cried. “ I knows im.” 
And in her excitement she would have rushed into the 
water, had not Helen held her back. 

“ There’s a tree coming with people in the branches,” 
cried a boy, excitedly, who had been stationed farther up 
the stream as a sentinel. 

“ Now is the time for work,” said John, quietly ; “ give 
me a rope.” 

« I shall go out too,” said Mr. Edmands. “ The cur- 


272 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


rent is strong and it may take both of us to manage the 
tree.” 

They were each given a rope and swam out side by side 
as far as the water was quiet enough to allow it; but when 
they reached the current they separated, one going up on 
the edge of it, the other down, neither knowing if they 
would meet again, for once in the current itself, there 
seemed so little hope. On came the tree so strangely 
freighted, and again Mammy Tot cried : 

“ De ole mau an’ de chillens ! De good Lawd be 
praised ! ” 

It was Helen now who needed support, for as the tree 
came in sight it seemed as though it would dash to pieces 
anything with which it came in contact. Breathlessly 
people stood on the shore and watched. Could anything 
be done, or would those who had gone to the rescue be 
carried hopelessly along ? It seemed a miracle that any 
one could live in its branches. They had evidently 
climbed into it for safety before it had been torn from its 
roots. How had they been able to cling to it as it fell, 
and was swept away? And why had it not rolled over 
as other trees had done? Would it not turn now, if they 
attempted to change its course? These thoughts flew 
through the minds of those who watched, but there were 
few words spoken ; for each moment it seemed as though 
some terrible thing were about to happen. 

John had stationed himself up the stream, and when 
he ventured into its seething current, it seemed as 
though he himself were fighting for life. It was growing 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


273 


dark, but those on the bank could still see everything 
that was going on. He managed somehow to fasten his 
rope to the tree, and those on shore began hauling on 
the rope very cautiously. Another instant and the tree 
had freed itself and was whirling again down the stream, 
carrying John with it. Helen covered her face with her 
hands, and a kind neighbor drew her to a seat by her on 
a large flat stone. 

“ This is no place for you,” she said. “ Let me take 
you home.” 

“Not yet. God will give me strength to bear the 
worst, if it is to come.” 

A wild shout rang out on the air as Mammy Tot 
leaned over and said : 

“Dey’s a cornin’, Miss Hel’n. Mars Edmands, he 
fetchin’ on em in.” 

Springing up, Helen watched them eagerly down the 
stream as they were being drawn, so slowly, into calmer 
water. Would the rope which Mr. Edmands had been 
enabled to make fast to it hold? Were they all there ? 
The suspense was terrible, and it seemed to Helen that 
she lived years in a few moments. Hand in hand, at the 
water’s edge, she and Mammy Tot stood ready to 
welcome their loved ones, should the good God see fit 
to give them back. Others had made way for them and 
anxiously and eagerly waited, for at intervals a cry of 
terror escaped from some member of the crowd, who 
thought all was over. But God was merciful, and 

brought them all back alive. 

s 


274 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“You are not hurt?” asked Helen of John, with tears 
in her eyes, after her first greeting. 

“ A little bruised, dear, that is all.” 

“ You will come home now ? ” 

“ In a few moments. It is too dark to do anything 
more to-night, except to station watchers along the 
banks to give warning in case of danger to property 
here. If you can have some dry clothing ready for us, 
we will both be thankful.” 

Taking Mammy Tot and her family back with her, 
she hurried to the house with her heart very full, and 
when she had entered it, went to her room and gave 
thanks most heartily to Him who had saved her from a 
terrible grief. Maud and Chloe had kept supper in 
readiness, and she soon had dry clothing laid out, and 
was ready with a cheerful smile to welcome the rescuers. 
She started when John came in, for he came alone, and 
she asked, quickly : 

“Where is Mr. Edmands ? ” 

“ Did he not come with you ? ” 

“ No, John,” she said, her face turning very pale. “ I 
thought he had stayed with you. What is it? ” she asked 
quickly, as a sudden change in the expression of his face 
startled her. “ You think he is in danger again ? ” 

“ I hope not.” 

“ Do not be afraid to tell me. What made you think 
so, John ? ” 

“ Just as you were leaving, he told me he thought he 
heard the cry of a woman in the water, but no one else 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


275 


seemed to have heard it, and I thought, as I did not see 
him again, that he had come back with you. It may not 
have been that.” 

“ I thought he was brave and strong before. I know 
it now,” she said, with her arms about John’s neck. “ I 
shall pray that after saving so many lives to-day, his 
own may be spared. If it had not been for him— — ” 

“ There, dear, I understand. Yes, he saved my life, 
as well as others, and I shall do everything in my power 
to bring him back with me, alive and well.” 

Leaving Helen to another period of suspense, John 
and some of the neighbors with lanterns and ropes re- 
turned to the water. 

“ If he went back into it,” said one, “ he is far out 
of reach by this time.” 

John’s plan was to follow the course of the river, 
shouting as they went, in hopes he might be watching 
somewhere and would hear them, or perhaps had lost hi3 
way in the darkness. On and on they went, calling and 
then stopping to listen ; on into the outskirts of the town, 
into the country, and out toward the old mill. Nowhere 
did they hear a response to their call that was the 
response they sought. 

“ It’s not worth while to go farther than the mill,” said 
one. “ Nothing could live beyond that.” 

“ I doubt if we will find the mill itself standing,” said 
John. “ It could hardly bear such a strain as this.” 

As they neared the place, they stopped and shouted 
once again. 


276 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


“ Hark ! ” said John, “ I heard a voice/ 

Again they called, then went a little farther and 
called again. This time there was no mistake about the 
response, which was ahead and not very far off. 

“ Come on, boys,” said John ; “ the old mill still stands, 
and the voice is there.” 

Hurrying forward, they had just time to see the form 
of a man bending over a woman inside the mill, when a 
strange, grating, rumbling sound was heard. As it came, 
John sprang into the mill, caught the woman in his 
arms and cried to the man : 

“ Fly for your life.” 

The next minute the old mill was a heap of ruins. 


CHAPTER XXXV. 


A HAPPY ISSUE. 

H ELEN had borne the suspense bravely. She had 
spent a portion of the time in her own room, alone 
with God. The rest, she had spent helping Mammy Tot 
and Chloe look after the rescued ones — “ My ole man an’ 
de chillens.” 

“ Dey’s a comm’,” said Sambo, excitedly, rushing into 
the house after he had finished his supper and had been 
out to see what was going on, “ an’ yer’s ter hab de bade 
ready fur de sick ’ooman, Mars John say.” 

“Who is with Mars John, Sambo?” asked Mammy 
Tot, eagerly. 

“ Nigh ’bout a hunded, I reckn, an’ dey’s atotin’ some 
people an’ ” 

Sambo never finished his sentence, for Helen would 
have fallen, had not Mammy Tot caught her. 

“ You Mandy, you,” called the old woman, “ go fix dat 
bade, whiles I tends ter Missy Hel’n.” 

“ No,” said Helen, faintly. “ I will do it. I must 
have something to do.” 

She roused herself and went about nervously, Maud 
following her wistfully and doing what she was allowed. 
At last Helen sat down, and after covering her face with 
her hands for a moment, looked up with a much more 

277 


278 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


quiet expression on her face, as she drew Maud to her 
and said : 

“ God has been very good to us, Maud, in giving us 
back our dear brother. Do not forget to thank him, 
dear.” 

“ I have done it, sister, over and over again, and I have 
asked him to bring Mr. Edmands back. It would be 
dreadful to have anything happen to him, you know.” 

“Not if God thought best, Maud. We must not for- 
get that he ” 

“ De good Lawd be praised fur wot he done fur all we 
dis day,” said Mammy Tot, entering the room and ap- 
proaching Helen excitedly. “ Dey’s all safe, Mars John 
and Mars Edmands, an’ dey’s a totin’ a ’ooman wot’s 
hurted, but she ain’t dade.” 

It was a strange story Mr. Edmands told that night of 
having heard a woman’s cry so distinctly that he was not 
content when others said they had not. It was repeated, 
but more faintly ; and yet he could tell from the direction, 
that it was still coming down the stream, and had not 
passed him. Once more he fought with the water, 
watching for anything coming toward him. It came at 
last — another faint cry — and then he had his hand on 
something that proved to be a boat. He climbed into it, 
but found to his horror that there was no oar nor paddle. 
Was there no help? he thought. He tried to think 
what to do. 

“ Pray God to guide us,” he said to the woman, who 
had given up all hope “ With him all things are pos- 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


279 


sible.” Even as he spoke some heavy object dashed 
past them, causing the boat to swerve toward the shore. 

“ We are coming to the mill,” she cried. “ If we touch 
it we will be dashed to pieces.” 

“Be ready to jump when I give the word,” he cried, 
“ and give yourself up to me.” 

Never having been along the stream by daylight, he 
could only guess at his surroundings ; but when he saw 
what he supposed to be the mill of which she spoke, he 
gave the word to jump, keeping hold of the woman and 
jumping himself, as she did. There was another fierce 
struggle before they reached the shore, and then the 
woman was unconscious. Her companion carried her 
into the mill, where he tried to restore her to conscious- 
ness, for he could not tell which way to go for aid, nor 
did he care to leave her. The account of John’s arrival 
and the falling of the old mill caused Helen to shudder, 
and then to offer up a silent prayer of thanksgiving, for 
were they not all together now? The woman had been 
kindly cared for, and would be all right in the morning, 
the doctor said. 

“ I owe my life to you,” said Mr. Edmands to John, 
when they were parting for the night. 

“No more than I owe mine to you, my friend and 
brother.” 

“ Thank God for that last word. I have hardly dared 
hope he could have so great a blessing in store for me.” 

“Miss Hern,” said Mammy Tot, when her family had 
been disposed of for the night, “dey’s one ting dat 


280 


THE SOUTHERN COUSIN. 


gwine be heaps o’ comfort ter me. Dat ole man o’ mine 
ain’t none o’ yer up an’ down Christians no mo’. He 
done trow de load offen he ownsef, an’ I’s a tinkin’ dat 
he gwine holp dem wot’s low down ter git up, same’s he 
ownsef. I knowed yer’d be pleased ter know ’bout dat, 
same’s ef old missus was yere.” 

“ Indeed I am more glad than you can think ; for in 
helping others one always helps one’s self.” 

“ That is what the brave, helpful little sister does,” 
said John, putting his arms lovingly about her ; “ and no 
man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, 
gentle, pure and good without the world’s being better 
for it.” 


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